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Death toll rises to 13 in SW China landslide

Xinhua | Updated: 2019-07-24 09:23

A landslide site in Southwest China's Guizhou province, July 24, 2019. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Xi urges all-out rescue after SW China landslide

BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out efforts in rescue and relief work after a landslide in Southwest China's Guizhou province left 11 people dead and 42 others missing.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed strengthened disaster prevention measures and protection of people's lives and property safety.

Rescue workers search for survivors after a landslide leveled the ground in Liupanshui, Southwest China's Guizhou, last night. [Photo/CCTV]

GUIYANG -- The death toll has risen to 13 after a landslide hit southwest China's Guizhou province late Tuesday, local authorities said Wednesday.

As of 5:15 pm Wednesday, 13 people had been found dead, another 11 were rescued, and an estimated 32 remained missing. Rescue work is still underway.

Rescue forces will never give up hope and will spare no effort in their search and rescue work, said the emergency rescue leadership.

At about 9:20 pm Tuesday, a landslide lashed a village in Shuicheng county of Liupanshui city, burying 21 houses. More than 50 people were living in the affected area when the landslide struck, according to rescuers.

Zhao Qingqiang, Shuicheng's county head, said that investigations were being carried out with the utmost care and precision in the landslide-affected areas, while relocation work was proceeding smoothly.

The Ministry of Emergency Management said Wednesday that it immediately activated an emergency response for the landslide and sent a work team to the site to assist local governments in disaster relief.

A landslide site in Southwest China's Guizhou province, July 24, 2019. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Currently, some 560 professional rescuers are searching the site thoroughly for the missing to minimize casualties, the ministry said.

The ministry called for intensified geological and meteorological monitoring to prevent secondary disasters, and efforts to ensure the safety of rescuers.

Another landslide struck a construction site in a village in Hezhang county, Guizhou province, at around 4 pm Tuesday, leaving one dead and six others missing, according to the county government.

 

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