47 buried in China landslide

47 people have been buried after a landslide struck a remote and mountainous part of southwestern China on Monday, January 22, 2024.

The landslide, it was gathered, occurred at 5:51 a.m. (2151 GMT Sunday) in Zhenxiong County, Yunnan province, China.

State broadcaster CCTV said about 18 households were buried in the landslide, adding that more than 200 people were “urgently evacuated” from the area.

It said authorities have launched an emergency response involving over 200 rescue workers as well as dozens of fire engines and other equipment.

Footage shared on social media by a local broadcaster showed emergency workers in orange jumpsuits and helmets forming ranks outside a fire station as snowflakes whirled through the air.

Other images showed rescuers picking through towering piles of collapsed masonry in which a few personal belongings could be seen.

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Authorities did not immediately specify whether anyone had died in the landslide.

Landslides are common in Yunnan, a far-flung and often impoverished region of China where steep mountain ranges butt against the Himalayan plateau.

Monday’s disaster occurred in a rural area surrounded by towering peaks dusted with snow, state media footage showed.

Temperatures in Zhenxiong hovered at around minus four degrees Celsius (24.8 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday morning, weather data showed.

There was no immediate official explanation for what may have caused the landslide.

China has experienced a string of natural disasters in recent months, some following extreme weather events such as sudden, heavy downpours.

In September, rainstorms in the southern region of Guangxi triggered a mountain landslide that killed at least seven people, according to media reports.

Heavy rains sparked a similar disaster near the northern city of Xi’an in August, causing the deaths of more than 20 people.

And in June, a landslide in southwestern Sichuan province, China – also remote and mountainous – killed 19 people.

The Star