Chongqing IRNA-- A total
of 62 people were confirmed dead in the landslide by zero hour Thursday, with
18 of the bodies recognized by relatives and cremated, the state news agency Xinhua
said Friday. It said that about two-thirds of the fallen earth and rocks had been
taken away from the site of the landslide which took place in Wulong County of
Chongqing Municipality around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, burying a nine-story residential
building.
A group of officials from four departments under the State
Council, including the ministries of land and resources, civil affairs and construction,
arrived at the site at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Xinhua said.
It will
begin conducting on-the-spot investigations and handling the aftermath of the
tragedy early Thursday morning, local sources said.
Only seven people
out of 25 families in the building were known to have escaped the disaster, the
sources said. Hundreds of police, soldiers and rescue workers were still digging
through debris to search for those trapped inside. Eight tourists, including two
young girls, had just checked in at a hostel on the third floor of the nine-story
building when tragedy struck, the paper said.
Xinhua said the landslide
was caused by "geological" factors, but China Daily blamed a heavy rainstorm sweeping
across Wulong county.
State media previously quoted residents as saying
there had been signs of the imminent landslide as early as Monday when large stones
started rolling down the slopes, damaging parts of the building. arrived too late
to get everybody safely out of the building. The government warned civil servants
of severe punishment for any deaths or injuries found to have resulted from negligence.
It launched an "intensive" campaign to survey the safety of other buildings in
the area. |
