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National highway to Tibet blocked after mud-rock flows

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-27 16:57

NYINGCHI, Tibet : One of the three national highways to southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region was blocked Monday after mud-rock flows. No casualties were reported.

The landslide occurred Monday morning in Sumzom Township in Powo County, Nyingchi Prefecture, on the Sichuan-Tibet highway, part of the No. 318 National Highway from eastern Shanghai to Tibet, said Chen Jun, a police officer in charge of maintaining the section.

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More than 100 vehicles were stranded by rocks and mud extending more than 70 meters on the road.

A bridge was also destroyed, he said.

A rescue team of more than 20 people as well as grabs and loaders were dispatched to the site, but it was difficult to repair the road as lots of huge rocks had fallen, he said.

The team prepared to explode the huge rocks, while some officers were distributing food to the stranded passengers. It needed at least 20 hours to resume the traffic, rescuers said.

The Sichuan-Tibet highway, along with Qinghai-Tibet highway and Xinjiang-Tibet highway, are the three major roads to Tibet.

Heavy rains hit most part of southwest China these days, triggering floods, landslides and mud-rock flows. A landslide in Sichuan Province on Saturday killed at least six people and damaged a bridge that is a key link for reconstruction of Wenchuan County, epicenter of the 8.0-magnitude earthquake in May last year.