Society

67 missing in SW China mudslides

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-18 16:29

KUNMING：At least 67 people are missing and seven others injured after mudslides slammed a remote town in southwest China's Yunnan Province early Wednesday, local authorities said.

Roads, power supplies and telecommunications were cut following the mudslides, which struck the Puladi Township, in the Drung-Nu Autonomous County of Gongshan, at about 1:30 a.m..

The mudslides also destroyed a bridge and made the Nujiang River swollen with the water level increasing by up to six meters, said a statement released by the Yunan Provincial Emergency Response Office Wednesday.

Rescuers had been sent to the area high up in the mountains bordering Myanmar, said a spokesman with the government of Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Nujiang, which administers Gongshan.

The mudslides were triggered by days of torrential rains, he added.

Sources with the armed police troops participating in the rescue operation told Xinhua that the mudslides struck the Litoudi Village, about 10 km away from Puladi Township seat. But the number of casualties is unknown at the moment.

A mudslide killed 11 people at the construction site of a hydropower station in Puladi Township July 26.