31 dead, 7 missing after southern China landslide

World Today

In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 photo, an aerial view shows a building and workers’ dormitory damaged by a landslide in Taining county in southeast China’s Fujian province. Several bodies have been found but dozens of people were still missing Monday following a landslide at the site of a hydropower project after days of heavy rain in southern China, authorities said. Fourteen people have been injured. (Chinatopix via AP)

Rescue teams have recovered the bodies of 31 victims while seven people were still listed as missing Monday following a landslide at the site of a hydropower project in southern China after days of heavy rain, authorities said.

CCTV’s Jin Yingqiao reports on the situation.

Rescuers aided by experts sent by the central government were searching with tools and sniffer dogs for signs of life, while mechanical diggers hauled away stones and soil, part of a 100,000-cubic-meter (3.5 million-cubic-foot) mountain of rain-saturated debris that buried an office building and a living area for construction workers early Sunday.

In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 photo, an aerial view shows rescuers search for potential survivors near the building and workers' dormitory damaged by a landslide in Taining county in southeast China's Fujian province. Several bodies have been found but dozens people were still missing Monday following a landslide at the site of a hydropower project after days of heavy rain in southern China, authorities said. (Chinatopix via AP) CHINA OUT

In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 photo, an aerial view shows rescuers search for potential survivors near the building and workers’ dormitory damaged by a landslide in Taining county in southeast China’s Fujian province. (Chinatopix via AP)

Continuing heavy rain in the area was hampering the rescue effort and more evacuations were being organized, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

“We were asleep when the mountains began to jolt very strongly and before we knew it, sand and mud were flowing into our room,” survivor Deng Chunwu told Xinhua. He and three other workers survived by huddling underneath a supporting pole.

Rescuers pay respect to a body of a victim found at the workers' dormitory damaged by a landslide in Taining county in southeast China's Fujian province, Monday May 09, 2016. Rescue teams have recovered dozens bodies while 25 people are still listed as missing Monday following a landslide at the site of a hydropower project in southern China after days of heavy rain, authorities said. (Chinatopix via AP) CHINA OUT

Rescuers pay respect to a body of a victim found at the workers’ dormitory damaged by a landslide in Taining county in southeast China’s Fujian province, Monday May 09, 2016.(Chinatopix via AP)


Their room was shifted a distance of 10 meters (30 feet) by the flowing mud, Deng said.

Yu Jingui, a worker from central China’s Hubei province, climbed out of the mud by himself after the landslide and suffered a broken bone.

He said he and his colleagues were all sleeping at that time in their iron sheet-made dorms that were located near a ditch at the foot of the mountain where the accident occured.

“We lived far from the ditch, while the two rooms near the ditch had all been buried under the mud. The situation was better with us since we were far from that ditch. The falling debris flow pushed us away to the opposite side, and at that time there were few rocks but only mud at that area. The iron sheets suddenly dropped on our bodies,” Yu said while being treated at Taining County hospital.

Rescuers use detectors to scan for potential survivors at the site following a landslide in Taining county in southeast China's Fujian province, Sunday, May 8, 2016. Rescuers on Sunday searched for 34 construction workers missing in a landslide at the site of a hydropower project following days of heavy rain in southern China. Seven other workers were pulled out alive, officials and state-run media reported. (Chinatopix via AP) CHINA OUT

Rescuers use detectors to scan for potential survivors at the site following a landslide in Taining county in southeast China’s Fujian province, Sunday, May 8, 2016. (Chinatopix via AP)

They initially climbed up the mountain before realizing that could be dangerous.

“We tried our best to escape to the outside. We pushed aside the iron sheets and climbed out. We rushed to climb up the mountain, then we realized that it was not the best choice since another landslide could occur at any time and it was quite dangerous. So we started to run down to the road downhill,” Yu said.

A number of other people were being treated for bone fractures and other injures, Xinhua and China Central Television said.

The head of the surgery at Taining County hospital said most of the survivors are currently in stable condition.

“Previously we worried that the extensive crush injuries will affect the victims’ renal function, but it turned out that the impacts are not that obvious,” Department Head Li Xiaoqiang said. “Some victims just had scratches and as long as their company allows, they can return home in two or three days.”

More than 600 rescuers, including firefighters and police, were searching for the missing and attempting to clear sections of roads leading to the site that had been made impassable by mudslides and flooding, hindering efforts to get heavy machinery through.

The project in mountainous Taining county in Fujian province is an extension of the Chitan hydropower station, an affiliate of state-owned Huadian Fuxin Energy Ltd., and was expected to begin operations in August 2017, Xinhua reported.

An official at the county department, who gave only his surname, Wei, said by phone that the cause of the landslide was still unclear, but that the area had seen rainfall in the past few days.

Severe weather, mountainous topography and high population density over much of southern and eastern China make landslides a constant threat. Overdevelopment and shoddy oversight can increase the danger, as was the case in December when 74 people were left dead or missing after a man-made mountain of construction waste collapsed onto buildings in the city of Shenzhen. Police detained 11 people following that accident on suspicion of failing to prevent the disaster.

Heavy rain has affected much of southern China since Wednesday, triggering floods and landslides, disrupting transport and destroying crops.

Story by CCTV+ and the Associated Press