Landslide in China’s Chongqing kills at least 8 and leaves 34 missing
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- A rain-triggered landslide in Chongqing’s Pengshui County on Friday killed at least eight people, left 34 missing and forced more than 1,100 residents to flee buried homes.
- More than 800 rescuers are combing debris, where at least 10 people were pulled out alive, as utilities are cut and unstable terrain heightens risk of another collapse.
- The landslide struck near the Wujiang River in a mountainous karst region.
BEIJING — A landslide Friday on the outskirts of the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing killed at least eight people and left 34 missing, burying residential buildings and forcing more than 1,100 people to evacuate, according to local officials and state media reports.
The landslide occurred around 9:08 a.m. in Pengshui County on the outer edge of the Chongqing municipality, when massive amounts of rock and soil washed downslope, burying more than 10 residential buildings, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Ten people were rescued from the debris, including two who were seriously injured, Pengshui County Mayor Ren Xujiang said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping asked authorities to determine the cause of the disaster, state media said.
Water, electricity and gas supplies were cut off within a 0.6-mile radius of the landslide to prevent further disruptions. More than 800 rescuers were on site, a local government statement said.
Images by CCTV showed part of a mountainside collapsing onto a residential area with multiple buildings, and rescue crews combing through the debris. Rescue efforts were hindered by the unstable terrain and the risk of another landslide, according to the broadcaster.
Images shared on social media showed orange-clad rescuers using excavators to dig through the rubble. At one point, a team of rescuers pulled a survivor out of the debris.
Large slabs of rock had slid beside buildings into a waterway below. Two buildings that looked about five and 15 stories high were damaged but still standing.
The rain-triggered landslide occurred near a section of the Wujiang River, which cuts through karst mountains peppered with small towns and terraces.
Authorities said they sent more than 8,000 disaster relief items to Chongqing, including tents, folding beds and family emergency kits.
Pengshui County is in the southeastern part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.
Wong writes for the Associated Press. AP video producer Wu Jia contributed to this report from Chongqing.
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