At least 24 people have been found dead in the rubble of a massive Landslide, which occurred on Saturday in the Sichuan province, southwest of china. 93 people are still missing, and dozens of houses were buried, as reported by CNN.
The landslide occurred on Saturday, at 6 a.m. in Mao County's village, Aba Prefecture. Xinmo is a popular tourist destination, with lush meadows not far from steep mountains. Around 3000 rescue workers and professional are currently searching, using both dogs and life-detection equipment to locate survivors through the rubble.
What caused the tragedy
According to the Resources Department and provincial government's Land, the heavy rainfall could be the cause of these types of accident. The landslide came from the mountain and fell onto the village, reported by Xinhua, blocking a 2km section of the river and 1.6km of the road.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "all-out efforts" to save the buried victims, prevent repeating disasters and give the necessary care to the relatives of the missing. Police team leader Wang Yongbo said there was one more landslide, after which huge rock masses fell onto the village. It caused extra difficulties to get to the place of the incident.
New survivors were found
According to the Mao County government, one family was found alive.
They were taken to the Mao County People's Hospital.
Qiao Dashuai, 26 y.o., said that in the morning he heard a loud noise, ran outside and saw that a rock fell into their living room. Luckily, they managed to escape. People from another village took them to the ambulance, reported by CCTV. Dashuai added that they only had external wounds, no major problems, but his heart felt really uncomfortable.
All his relatives are missed at the place of the incident.
People from the nearby villages noted that there were strong winds blowing at that day, the houses were shaking as if there was an earthquake. One woman was even unable to find her own house, everything has been destroyed. She only managed to recognize a green blanket among the mud.
One elderly man, who asked to stay nameless for the media, noted that there had been landslides before and caused the big danger, but authorities never offered to help them move.
It is noted that the Sichuan province is famous for the landslides, floods, and earthquakes. Back in 1933, more than 6,000 people died in landslides caused by an earthquake, and there were 2,500 victims of the landslides causing a dam to fail.
