China
10 killed in NW China's rain-triggered landslide
Xinhua, September 19, 2011
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At least 10 people were killed and 22 others are missing after Saturday's rain-triggered landslide buried mountain-side factories in northwest Shaanxi Province, local officials said Sunday.
![Excavators work during a rescue operation at the site where a landslide occurred in Baqiao District of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi province, Sept. 18, 2011. The landslide was triggered on Saturday afternoon by a heavy rainfall. [Photo/Xinhua]](../../attachement/jpg/site1007/20110919/0019b93bd68d0fe0e09305.jpg "Excavators work during a rescue operation at the site where a landslide occurred in Baqiao District of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi province, Sept. 18, 2011. The landslide was triggered on Saturday afternoon by a heavy rainfall. [Photo/Xinhua]")
Excavators work during a rescue operation at the site where a landslide occurred in Baqiao District of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi province, Sept. 18, 2011. The landslide was triggered on Saturday afternoon by a heavy rainfall. [Photo/Xinhua]
As of 5:30 p.m., rescuers have retrieved 10 bodies from beneath the rocks and mud that also injured five, said Zhu Zhisheng, vice mayor of the provincial capital city of Xi'an, who is at the site.
The injured are hospitalized and in stable condition, Zhu said.
Saturday's landslide at about 2 p.m. unleashed about 100,000 cubic meters of rock and mud down the mountain, engulfing a brick factory and destroying part of a nearby ceramics factory in a suburban district of Xi'an.
Rescuers found four bodies on Saturday night and six others were retrieved on Sunday.
More than 700 police, firefighters, and local residents have joined the rescue that remains under way.
However, the rescue was hampered by three follow-up slides between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday as heavy rains continued slashing the city.
About 10,000 cubic meters of newly-triggered rock and mud roared down to the site, forcing rescuers to suspend searching temporarily.
Heavy downpours in the province also caused havoc in other areas.
A heavy rainfall that began on Saturday night triggered a landslide that buried a residential house in the suburban district of Jintai in Baoji City, some 175 km west of Xi'an.
Two people were dug out but later died after they were rushed to a nearby hospital, the municipal government of Baoji said in a statement Sunday.
The downpours also brought a landslide in the same district early Sunday morning, and three buried people have been retrieved and sent to a local hospital, according to the statement.
The three wounded are in stable condition, doctors at the hospital said.
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