Four more bodies found from massive landslide in Sichuan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-11 02:22

CHENGDU：Four more bodies have been retrieved over the past three days from the site of a massive landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province that had killed two, injured 18 and left another 29 missing, rescuers said late Monday.

But rescuers have yet to identify whether the newly-found bodies were new deaths or among the 29 missing. The bodies are now kept at a local funeral home. The disaster occurred at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday in Shunhe Township, Hanyuan County, Ya'an City. It damaged 10 vehicles, inundated eight homes and disrupted traffic on provincial highway 306.

The landslide debris formed a 250-meter-long blockage on the Dadu River. By 3:30 a.m. Friday, the water had overrun the obstruction.

The provincial government has ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of people living in the lower reaches of the river to avoid furthercasualties.

Most of the victims were migrant workers making train transfers after arriving at the Wusihe station on the K117 Beijing-Panzhihua train, the Hanyuan county government said.

Five people who had been stranded by rising water levels upstream of the landslide have been rescued.

The massive search and rescue operation continues.