Landslide traps 12 people in Shaanxi
( 2003-09-24 14:50) (Xinhua)
Twelve people were trapped in the wee hours of Tuesday by
a landslide in Zizhou county of northwest China's Shaanxi province, sources said
Wednesday.
Though a rescue team consisting of more than 300 rescuers are
still working very hard to locate and find survivors, the fate of the 12 victims
remained unknown by Wednesday morning.
The accident occurred in Liangjiagou
village, Shuidiwan township at about 1:00 a.m. Tuesday when eight cave-houses of
farmer Liang Zhengde and his son were tumbled by about 12,000 cubic meters of
earth and rocks, local officials said. Eight family members and four relatives
were buried in the collapsed cave homes.
The tragedy was only discovered by
Liang's neighbors after daybreak Tuesday since the villagers are living far
apart around the area.
The police's preliminary investigation said that
over-digging in the hillsides by the Liangs and heavy rainfall in the region
since August were to be blamed for the tragedy.
Cave-houses are common in
northwestern China, where locals dig caves into hills and use them as their
shelters.
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