China landslide deaths rise to 38

AFP, BEIJING: The death toll from a landslide triggered by flooding in China rose to 38 Thursday, with no more missing, officials and state-run media said. An avalanche of mud and rock caused by torrential rains engulfed 27 homes last Friday in Lishui in the eastern province of Zhejiang, reports said. Only one person escaped and more than 2,300 rescuers and 60 digging machines were deployed to search for the victims, but their efforts were repeatedly interrupted by rain and at least one more landslide, they said. Two bodies were found Thursday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. There were no indications of any more missing, Lishui authorities said on social media. Initially only 38 people were thought to have been at the scene, but it said the body of a previously unrecorded migrant worker had been also been recovered. Earlier reports quoted the sole survivor, a 26-year-old man identified only by his surname Li, saying: “I saw the house in front of me was ablaze before it was buried by mud. I heard people screaming for help from inside.

China landslide deaths rise to 38

AFP, BEIJING: The death toll from a landslide triggered by flooding in China rose to 38 Thursday, with no more missing, officials and state-run media said. An avalanche of mud and rock caused by torrential rains engulfed 27 homes last Friday in Lishui in the eastern province of Zhejiang, reports said. Only one person escaped and more than 2,300 rescuers and 60 digging machines were deployed to search for the victims, but their efforts were repeatedly interrupted by rain and at least one more landslide, they said. Two bodies were found Thursday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. There were no indications of any more missing, Lishui authorities said on social media. Initially only 38 people were thought to have been at the scene, but it said the body of a previously unrecorded migrant worker had been also been recovered. Earlier reports quoted the sole survivor, a 26-year-old man identified only by his surname Li, saying: I saw the house in front of me was ablaze before it was buried by mud. I heard people screaming for help from inside.