Beijing: A landslide in south-west China’s mountainous Yunnan province has buried at least 47 people and forced the evacuation of 200 more amid freezing temperatures and falling snow.
The disaster struck just before 6am on Monday (Kunming time) in the village of Liangshui in the north-east part of Yunnan province. Rescue efforts were under way to find victims buried in 18 separate houses, the Zhenxiong county publicity department said.
Rescue workers deal with the aftermath of a landslide in Yunnan province, China.Credit: China Xinhua News
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. The cause of the landslide wasn’t immediately known, although photos showed snow was on the ground and continuing to fall.
Luo Dongmei, 35, was sleeping when the landslide struck, but she survived and was relocated to a school by local authorities.
“I was asleep, but my brother knocked on the door and woke me up. They said there was a landslide and the bed was shaking, so they rushed upstairs and woke us up,” Luo said.
Luo, her husband and their three children, along with many other residents, have been provided with food at the school but are still waiting for blankets and other protection from the cold weather, she said.
Luo said she’s been unable to contact her sister and aunt, who lived closer to the site of the landslide. “The only thing I can do is to wait.”
Rescuers evacuated tourists last week from a remote skiing area in north-west China where dozens of avalanches triggered by heavy snow trapped more than 1000 people for a week. The avalanches blocked roads, stranding both tourists and residents in a village in Altay prefecture in the Xinjiang region, close to China’s border with Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan.
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