12 dead, 10 still missing in south China quarry landslide
0 
Rescuers combing through rubble in a landslide-hit quarry in south China said on Tuesday that they have found no evidence that the quarry's ten missing workers, who are believed to be buried 10 meters deep in the rubble, are still alive.
The bodies of 11 other workers have been recovered since the landslide hit the quarry at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the village of Luojiangin, Xianshui Township near Guilin City in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. One survivor died on the way to the hospital.
The rescuers, using specialized equipment to try and detect traces of life in the rubble, have found no traces of survivors, said Tang Chaobin, deputy head of Quanzhou County, where the quarry is located.
Tang said the search will not stop until all missing workers are located.
"The government will spare no effort in finding them," said Tang.
Rocks and mud surged down rain-soaked hills on Monday afternoon, burying workers resting in a makeshift dormitory. The area received large amounts of rain in the days preceding the incident.
Tang said rocks rolled down from a hillside and hit the quarry's dormitory with great force. "Workers are buried ten meters under the surface. It is very difficult to rescue them," he said.
"We first saw smoke rising up in the valley, then the rocks and mud gushing out. The dormitory was soon buried underneath," said Chen Yuanliang, a villager who witnessed the landslide.
He Qishi, deputy chief engineer of the region's general geological environment monitoring station, said the landslide was caused by days of continuous, heavy rainfall. He said the landslide buried an area equivalent in size to two basketball fields, with a volume of 250,000-300,000 cubic meters and a thickness of about five meters.
Local officials say about 1,000 geological disasters occur in Guangxi every year.
Rainstorms wreaked havoc in the region last weekend, with many roads and other areas rendered inaccessible due to flooding. Authorities have issued warnings about potential geological disasters, as the local weather forecast bureau says that the rain is expected to continue for the next three days.
Go to Forum >>0 Comments