Crews in China cling to hope of finding survivors days after landslide

World Today

Rescue workers use a lifeboat to access some areas at the site of a landslide in Maoxian County in southwestern China’s Sichuan Province, Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

In China, a glimmer of hope emerges from a mountain of despair in Sichuan Province.

Officials confirm 15-people have been found alive and safe. They were not in Xinmo village Saturday morning when a landslide buried their community in Maoxian County. Ten bodies have been recovered from the debris. Some 93 others are still missing. 

Despite the odds, rescue crews are refusing to give up as chances of finding survivors dwindles.

CGTN’s Zheng Yibing spoke with emergency crews helping search for those still missing.

It’s still within the 72-hour golden period, but it seems miracles are now needed, to find any survivors, after great volumes of rocks and mud smashed into a mountain village on Saturday morning. However, the search and rescue work will continue until all hope has been drained.

More measures are also being taken for the safety of the rescuers, including monitoring the rock mass over the rescue site and digging out a tunnel from the barrier lakes caused by the landslide. However, it is still not enough.

To prevent any secondary disasters from happening, rescuers are trying to establish a comprehensive understanding of the local terrain. Geological surveys and images are crucial for this mission. Besides precautions, authorities are keen to find out what exactly caused this devastating landslide.

A desperate search for possible survivors is underway for those still missing following Saturday’s early morning landslide in China’s Sichuan Province.

Through these comprehensive measures and analysis, secure rescue operations can continue in this once-beautiful mountain village. For the rescuers, although hope is diminishing fast, they won’t relent until the last second.


Some survivors tell their story: