Seven still missing, 15 dead in southwest China landslide

Source: Xinhua | 04-29-2009 08:54

KUNMING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers were still looking for seven missing people two days after a landslide in southwest China's Yunnan Province as death toll rose to 15 on Tuesday, a local government official said.

Three more bodies were retrieved from the site late Tuesday, said He Gang, vice mayor of Zhaotong City.

The landslide occurred at 12:40 p.m. Sunday at Xiaoba Village, Weixin County of Zhaotong after almost four days of torrential rain.

Tang Guoqian, head of the public affairs department of the government of Weixin, had earlier said there was little hope of finding the missing alive.

Four excavators were clearing the rubble at the site in the day and the rescue work stopped at night because it was too dangerous, He said.

He promised that the search would continue on Wednesday.

The victims and the missing people were coal mine managers and miners from Zhaotong, which administers Weixin, and from Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality.

The landslide destroyed two buildings of the Huajiaba Coal Mineat the site.

Two people were injured and were described as stable in hospital.

Local government officials said the landslide was the result of unsafe quarry production.

Another landslide, the result of unsafe quarry production, occurred an hour earlier in Linfeng Township, Weixin County, killing four passers-by.

Editor:Zhang Ning