More missing in new China mudslides

Roads, power and telecommunications cut off as new mudslides hit Yunnan province.

China floods
Roads, power and telecommunications link were cut by the landslides in Yunnan province [AFP]

Xinhua said the mudslides were spread about 300 metres and that at least 10 vehicles and 21 houses were buried.

“I suddenly heard rumbling late last night and then rushed to a safe place with fellow villagers,” it quoted local resident Yu Zhizhong as saying.

More than 2,100 people are reported to be dead or missing and 12 million have been evacuated nationwide in the aftermath of the disasters.

Heavy rains are forecast in the country in the coming days after torrential rains slammed Gongshan County town in a mountainous corner of Yunnan province bordering Myanmar.

A large amount of debris was washed into the Nu River, where the water level rose by up to six metres.

The provincial civil affairs office sent rescue workers with tents and clothing to the area, but it is not known when the aid will arrive in the remote town.

Rescue efforts

The latest disaster comes two weeks after at least 1,287 people were killed by mudslides in the northwestern province of Gansu.

Rescuers in Zhouqu are battling to get much-needed aid supplies to residents and prevent an outbreak of water-borne diseases.

Local weather authorities have warned that Zhouqu will experience heavy rain until at least Saturday, setting more hurdles on relief efforts.

Elsewhere in Gansu provience, recent floods and landslides have killed at least 36 people in the city of Longnan, close to Zhouqu, Xinhua said. More than 122,000 residents in Longnan were evacuated following heavy rain last week.

Another 15 people have been killed in landslides in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

Source: News Agencies