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Search continues as China landslide toll rises to 34
The death toll after a torrent of sludge, mud and mining waste ploughed into buildings in northern China has risen to at least 34 people, with hundreds more feared trapped in the rubble, state media reported on Tuesday.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:25 September 9, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- Rescuers work in the mud-rock flow triggered by heavy rain in Xiangfen County in Linfen City of China's Shanxi province on Monday.
Beijing: The death toll after a torrent of sludge, mud and mining waste ploughed into buildings in northern China has risen to at least 34 people, with hundreds more feared trapped in the rubble, state media reported on Tuesday.
The landslide in Shanxi province Monday also injured 35 people - four seriously, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the local rescue headquarters.
Xinhua said the number of people trapped under the mud was unknown, but the People's Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, said on its website that the missing could number in the hundreds.
The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement that the death toll could exceed 500 people. It did not attribute the figure to a source.
The landslide at Tashan, a hill in Xiangfen county, knocked down a mine warehouse, trapping an unknown number of people inside, Xinhua said. A three-story office building, a market and some houses were also destroyed, the report said.
A preliminary investigation showed that the landslide was caused by the collapse of a dam used as a retaining wall to enclose tailings from an iron mine, said Wang Dexue, deputy head of the State Administration of Work Safety.
"It is an illegal company that was using the abandoned dump to get rid of its production waste," Wang said on state broadcaster CCTV's news.
"The amount stored far exceeded the capacity of the space. In addition, there was a bit of rain and the collapse took place as a result," he said.
Fired for negligence
Xinhua said several local officials had been sacked for negligence. The owner of the Tashan Mine was detained, it said.
Rescuers said it was difficult to identify the victims as most of the mine workers were migrants from elsewhere in Shanxi, Chongqing and central Hubei province, the report said.
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