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China orders all-out efforts to save life in landslide

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-06 09:16

CHONGQING -- President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have ordered the local authorities to spare no efforts to save those people buried in a fatal landslide in the southwest city of Chongqing.

Caution must be taken to avoid life losses during the rescue work, the two leaders said.

Chinese vice-premier Zhang Dejiang arrived at the landslide site in Wulong county at 5 a.m. Saturday to oversee the rescue efforts.

Three seriously injured people remained in critical condition Saturday morning, more than 12 hours after they were pulled out from a landslide in southwest China, while 79 people are feared dead and 27 others are trapped under a mine.

Three medical experts sent by the Ministry of Health arrived in Chongqing Saturday to help with the rescue work after the landslide happened at about 3 p.m. Friday at an iron ore mining area of Jiwei Mountain in Tiekuang Township, Wulong County, about 170 kilometers southeast of Chongqing's downtown.

Liu Jianchun, a government spokesman with the rescue work, told Xinhua on Saturday that 79 residents and passers-by were buried in the landslide which destroyed 12 houses and buried the mining area.

Rescuers said the people buried in the debris almost have no chance to survive, but they hope to rescue the 27 miners trapped under the mine.

Related readings:  Five killed in NW China landslide  Death toll in SW China landslide rises to 12  113 punished for landslide that kills 277  Landslide leaves four dead, one missing in NW. China  Six confirmed dead in south China landslide

Seven people were pulled out from the debris as of Friday evening, and three of them have not escaped life danger as of Saturday morning, said Qu Qian, director of the Chongqing Municipal Health Bureau.

Another man was injured after he joined the rescue work. He was also hospitalized.

Qu said that 27 ambulances and 91 medical workers are serving at the landslide site.

A geological investigation led by Chongqing land resources authorities found that about 1.5 million cubic meters of Jiwei Mountain massif slumped 600 meters down, filling a 200-meter wide valley, where Wujiang, a tributary of the Yangtze River, runs through.

The investigation team warned that the landslide debris, estimated at more than 3.5 million cubic meters, has blocked the river flow, and may have the risk of causing a barrier lake in case of rainy weather.

The Chongqing weather center forecast drizzle in the municipality on Sunday.

The landslide cut off power and communications in many parts of the town.

More than 500 rescuers are searching for the missing.

Investigation into the cause of the landslide has begun.