China landslide leaves around 60 missing

AFP, BEIJING: More than 60 people were missing in China yesterday after a landslide buried the living quarters of a mining company under one million cubic metres of earth, state media said.
The landslide covered 15 employee dormitories and three houses in Shanyang county in the northern province of Shaanxi shortly after midnight, an official at the county’s propaganda office told AFP.
The state-run Xinhua news agency, quoting the provincial government, said late Wednesday that more than 60 people remain missing. It said four people had been rescued and rushed to hospital. Another 10 at the site had avoided being trapped when the landslide struck, it added.
Police, firefighters, mining rescuers and medical staff had been sent to the scene and residents in the area evacuated, the county government said in a statement.
Photos posted on news websites showed rescue workers in orange jumpsuits standing next to a pile of earth and rocks at least four times their size. Mechanical backhoes were atop the mound. President Xi Jinping said he was following the rescue efforts closely and every effort should be made to prevent casualties and further disasters, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The mine’s operator was identified by Xinhua as Wuzhou mining company, which according to its parent company is mainly a vanadium producer.
Separately, an accident at a coal and gas mine on Tuesday night in the southwestern province of Guizhou killed 10 people, provincial work safety authorities said in a statement.

China landslide leaves around 60 missing

AFP, BEIJING: More than 60 people were missing in China yesterday after a landslide buried the living quarters of a mining company under one million cubic metres of earth, state media said. The landslide covered 15 employee dormitories and three houses in Shanyang county in the northern province of Shaanxi shortly after midnight, an official at the countys propaganda office told AFP. The state-run Xinhua news agency, quoting the provincial government, said late Wednesday that more than 60 people remain missing. It said four people had been rescued and rushed to hospital. Another 10 at the site had avoided being trapped when the landslide struck, it added. Police, firefighters, mining rescuers and medical staff had been sent to the scene and residents in the area evacuated, the county government said in a statement. Photos posted on news websites showed rescue workers in orange jumpsuits standing next to a pile of earth and rocks at least four times their size. Mechanical backhoes were atop the mound. President Xi Jinping said he was following the rescue efforts closely and every effort should be made to prevent casualties and further disasters, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The mines operator was identified by Xinhua as Wuzhou mining company, which according to its parent company is mainly a vanadium producer. Separately, an accident at a coal and gas mine on Tuesday night in the southwestern province of Guizhou killed 10 people, provincial work safety authorities said in a statement.