The death toll from a landslide in a mountainous region of southwest China rose to 31 on Tuesday, state media said.
• Also read: China landslide: 'Race against time' to find survivors
• Also read: Landslide in China: Dozens missing, at least eight dead
The drama unfolded early Monday morning in the small village of Liangshui in Yunnan, a province that is among the poorest in the country.
Almost 36 hours after the disaster began, the death toll stood at 31, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Eighteen houses were buried under mud and more than 200 people had to be evacuated.
An earlier report by public television CCTV reported 25 dead and at least 24 missing.
More than 900 people have been relocated and electricity and telecommunications are functioning normally, said the broadcaster, which states that “the search for the missing” “continues” despite the sub-zero temperatures.
“The race against time”
A day and a half after the disaster, rescue teams are in a “race against time” to find those buried, the Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.
CCTV broadcast images of rescuers searching for survivors among metal and concrete rubble. Another video showed residents warming up by the fire and eating instant noodles.
Local residents also took part in rescue operations, Xinhua reported.
“Our village is not far from here,” Hong Jie, 38, told the agency. “We mainly come to distribute essentials, cook and deliver food to those who need it.”
The collapsed rock mass was “about 100 meters wide and 60 meters high, with an average thickness of about six meters,” Wu Junyao, director of the Natural Resources and Development Bureau, told Xinhua. the planning of the city of Zhaotong, which is responsible for the village of Liangshui.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called on emergency services to “do everything possible to limit the number of victims.”
Precedents
Yunnan is a mountainous province with many ethnic groups and one of the poorest in China.
Monday's disaster occurred in a rural area surrounded by towering snow-capped peaks, according to state media.
No reason has yet been given to explain the tragedy.
Landslides occur regularly in the mountainous southwest of China, especially after rainfall.
In September, storms in the Guangxi region (south) caused a landslide in a mountainous area, killing at least seven people, according to local press.
Around twenty people died last August in a landslide following a flash flood in a village near the city of Xi'an (north).
In June 2023, 19 people died in a landslide in Sichuan Province (southwest), which is also isolated and mountainous.