More than 700 people are now known to have died in a massive landslide in north-west China - making it one of the deadliest incidents so far in the country's worst flooding in a decade. A frantic search is continuing for the more than 1,000 people still missing. Buildings were hit by a wall of mud so mighty that buildings seven storeys high crumpled like paper, says the BBC's Chris Hogg, in Gansu province. He says rescuers are searching by hand in the remote, mountainous region.
A 52-year-old man was pulled alive from the rubble more than 50 hours after the disaster, and other rescue teams say they have heard "very faint" signs of life elsewhere, state media reported. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has urged rescuers to keep looking until they find every last survivor. But as the hours pass, hopes of finding survivors diminish. "Around me are relatives of missing people sitting dazed, shocked. Each of them has stories," our correspondent says. One woman has lost her husband and three teenage children. Until she saw their bodies with her own eyes she did not want to believe it, he adds. The death toll was revised upwards on Tuesday from 337, and officials say that figure is expected to rise. The weather forecast for the coming days is for heavy rain, which could hamper humanitarian work, and there is also the possibility of further landslides, says the BBC's Michael Bristow in Beijing. Supplies running low The landslides in remote Zhouqu county, Gansu, were triggered by torrential rains that hit the area late on Saturday. The thick layer of mud levelled an area 5km (3 miles) by 500m, Xinhua said. Finish reading : BBC |
