All-out rescue for buried miners in Tibet
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Rescue workers conduct search and rescue work at the site where a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Maizhokunggar County of Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 30, 2013. Rescuers have found bodies and are still searching for survivors more than 37 hours after a massive landslide buried 83 miners at the polymetal mine in Tibet. [Purbu Zhaxi/Xinhua] |
![Rescue workers conduct search and rescue work at the site where a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Maizhokunggar County of Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 30, 2013. Rescuers have found bodies and are still searching for survivors more than 37 hours after a massive landslide buried 83 miners at the polymetal mine in Tibet. [Purbu Zhaxi/Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20130331/001ec949ff5c12c216a027.jpg "Rescue workers conduct search and rescue work at the site where a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Maizhokunggar County of Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 30, 2013. Rescuers have found bodies and are still searching for survivors more than 37 hours after a massive landslide buried 83 miners at the polymetal mine in Tibet. [Purbu Zhaxi/Xinhua]")
More heavy-duty excavating devices were transported on Sunday to the site of a fatal landslide in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as two bodies had been retrieved as of early the same day.
A Xinhua reporter saw dozens of large pieces of machinery being carried to the landslide site in Maizhokunggar County, about 68 km from regional capital Lhasa.
Meanwhile, more medical staff were on their way to the scene as many rescuers have been suffering from slight altitude sickness.
The disaster struck a workers' camp of the Jiama Copper Polymetallic Mine at about 6 a.m. on Friday, burying 83 workers.
On Saturday, rescuers managed to recover two bodies in the same area, as the huge amount of debris, 4,600-meter altitude and snowy weather hampered rescue efforts. The survival chances of the missing miners were believed slim.
The victims were workers from Tibet Huatailong Mining Development Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corporation.
The affected area is 3 km wide and 30 meters deep in average, covered with about 2 million cubic meters of mud, rock and debris. More than 300,000 cubic meters of debris have been removed.
By 8 p.m. on Saturday, 3,500 rescuers, 300 large-scale pieces of machinery, 10 sniffer dogs and 20 life detectors were working at the site, according to the rescue headquarters.
Yang Dongliang, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, said at the site that a team of experts has been set up to investigate the cause of the landslide.
The identities of the miners have been confirmed and their relatives are also on their way to Lhasa.
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