Landslide victims to get 200,000 yuan

By Wang Ru in Chongqing and Hu Yinan in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-09 08:18

Families of victims of the landslide that reportedly killed 35 people in the southwestern industrial hub of Chongqing will receive at least 200,000 yuan ($29,200), the standard compensation payment for fatalities from negligent accidents, local officials said.

Shao Li receives treatment at a hospital in Wulong, Chongqing, Monday. Her right leg was broken in the landslide on Friday. [Yang Shizhong]

The municipal government will distribute the funds, the China National Radio Network reported Monday.

Although officials with Wulong county, where Friday's accident took place, have said there was "no clear indication" human error caused the landslide, various local sources claimed excessive drilling and mining were to blame.

The privately-owned iron ore mine, named Sanlian and boasting a capacity of 100 tons a day, had neglected government warnings to stop production because of "possible geological dangers" since 2001, said several miners.

Su Xianyun, one of the mine's three owners, is reportedly in police custody.

A staff member with Wulong's land and resources bureau hinted, without elaborating, that Sanlian "may not have" the proper mining and work safety licenses.

Chongqing government spokesman Ai Yang said on Sunday the government is investigating whether the mine's license is still valid.

At least 63 people are still missing and many are expected to be added to the death toll, although there is hope that 27 miners trapped 200 m underground may be alive.

Millions of tons of solid rocks are blocking access to the mine shaft at Jiwei Mountain, about 175 km southeast of urban Chongqing, following the landslide that happened at 3 pm on Friday.

Shao Ruiqing, a resident from Bairui village of Tiekuang township, told China Daily he was the first to arrive at the site on Friday soon after getting a call from fellow villager Chen Yunkai.

"I don't think there are survivors under the debris," Shao said, shaking his head from Wulong People's Hospital, 70 km from the site of the incident. When he arrived on the scene, he found half of Hongbao village had been buried under giant rocks and debris and a cloud of smoke covered the sky. He rescued five people from the debris, including Wu Xianyong, an employee from a local branch of China Mobile.

Wu, 46, whose right leg was broken in the landslide, arrived at the Hongbao village with two colleagues on Friday. They were sent to build a signal station along with five other workers from China Mobile.

"It was a peaceful village," Wu said from his hospital bed where he was awaiting his second surgery. "But our boss told us to be cautious, since he saw some big stones rolling down from the mountain two days prior."

Chongqing boasts some of the most geologically unstable terrain in western China. Wulong alone has 545 such spots, which endanger nearly 120,000 residents.

A similar accident, caused by excessive drilling, led to fallen rocks and river dams in Wulong on April 30, 1994, an anonymous expert with the Changjiang Water Resources Commission said.

Awoken from a nap on Friday "by some noise", Wu said he stepped out of the building to see huge stones rolling down the mountain.

Soon, the mountain began to tremble and there was a cloud of black dust. Wu ran but was knocked down and trapped by a collapsing house.

"The stones were flying above my head," Wu said.

He and most of his colleagues escaped the landslide relatively unscathed but three co-workers were left seriously injured.

The local government warned the villagers about the potential for a slide in 2003 and offered them money - amounting to about 5,000 yuan to move, Shao said. But most villagers, including himself, refused to leave.