Chinese authorities on Wednesday blamed loose supervision over
engineering and construction for a deadly landslide that killed 35
and cut off a road for 24 days in central China.
A statement jointly released by the Ministry of Railways and
State Administration of Work Safety said investigations showed the
explosion procedures separated rock on the edge of the tunnel,
through which a long-distance bus was passing. It separated the
rock from its parent rocks and caused an avalanche of about 3,000
cubic meters of rubble.
This was the direct cause of the landslide that engulfed the
ill-fated bus on the highway in Badong County, Enshi Prefecture of
Hubei Province on Nov. 20, the statement said.
"Although the causes of the accident were complicated, the
accident revealed management negligence and loose control over
engineering and construction on the part of units engaged in
construction, geo-technical engineering and monitoring," it
said.
The construction site where the accident took place belonged to
a company under the China Railway Tunnel Group. It was designed by
China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co. Ltd.
Sichuan Tieke Construction Project Management Company was
responsible for construction monitoring. Yiwan Railway Project
Construction Headquarter under the Wuhan Railway Bureau built the
site.
The statement said all-level railway and work safety authorities
should step up examinations on railway construction projects and
search for hidden troubles during construction.
The slide killed 32 passengers on a bus and three road
maintenance workers. Another worker at the site suffered slight
injury.
The slide site was about four hours drive from the Three Gorges
Dam, the world's largest hydropower project.
A 100 meter section of the No. 318 highway, which linked
Shanghai to Tibet, was closed after the slide. During the blockage,
up to 5,000 vehicles were forced to make a 30-minute detour 17
kilometers away, according to local traffic authorities.
More than 100 workers exploded loose rocks and reinforced
roadside mountains during a three-week period. Traffic resumed on
December 13.
(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2007)