Death toll reaches 20 in SW China mudslide

CHENGDU - Twenty bodies have been recovered following a rain-triggered mudslide that occurred in Southwest China's Sichuan province on June 28.

Rescuers are searching for another 20 missing people, the local rescue command center said Thursday.

As of 6 pm Wednesday, rescuers had pulled 18 bodies from the Jinsha River, a major river located upstream of the Yangtze River, bringing the death toll to 20 thus far, officials at the command center said.

Eleven bodies have been identified and cremated. The rest of the recovered bodies will be identified soon, officials said.

Twenty people remain missing near the river. Search and rescue operations are under way.

Torrential downpours unleashed a mudslide at a construction site for the Baihetan Hydropower Station in Ningnan county on June 28. The station's staff and their relatives are among the dead and missing.