Death toll from Saturday’s landslide in southwest China rises to 10

Jul 22. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Chinese authorities on Sunday night raised the death toll to ten from the landslide that buried dozens of homes in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan on Saturday, where at least 29 people remain missing.

At least 15 people have been injured and sent to hospital, although none of their lives are in danger, while 412 people have had to be evacuated, according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Rescue teams have located two new bodies during their search operations, in which they are using drones, dogs and life sensors.

The avalanche occurred at around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday (local time) in Xinhua Town, where heavy rains caused a nearby mountainside to collapse. More than 40 homes in the town were damaged.

In addition, the torrent of water that flowed down the hillside ended up destroying an old double-arched stone bridge. The remains of the bridge ended up becoming a dam that ended up diverting the torrent in the direction of the houses in the village and causing it to be cut off for hours.

Local authorities have deployed a total of 23 teams and more than 1,000 rescue personnel, coordinating more than 1,500 pieces of equipment including Wing Loong drones, communication drones, long-arm excavators, underwater detectors, emergency mechanized bridges and emergency communication vehicles.