Mudslides kill 22 in Xinjiang and Yunnan

The death toll from a mudslide that buried an iron ore mine in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region yesterday has climbed to 18.

As of 9 am today, the bodies of 18 victims had been recovered at the mine located in the township of Araltobe, Xinyuan County in Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, while 10 others remained missing, a spokesman with the county government told a news conference.

The disaster, which occurred 12:30 am yesterday, buried 28 people living in a work shed at the mine. They were identified as mine workers. Most were from the provinces of Yunnan and Fujian, while some were local residents, the spokesman said.

The mudslide contained about 1 million cubic meters of debris, and was 2,000 meters long, 50 meters wide and six meters deep, he said.

The chances of survival for the missing people, probably still buried under the debris, were slim. They would have no oxygen to breathe, said Chen Chaobin, chief of staff of the prefecture's fire brigade.

But the rescue efforts would continue, Chen added.

More than 500 rescuers with over 100 machines and two sniffer dogs have been carrying out the search operations.

Floods and mudslides caused by torrential rains over the past two days have left four people dead and 10 others missing in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said today.

And as of 11 am today, a total of 84 people had been injured slightly and the lives of 372,000 people disrupted after the rains battered Jinggu County in the city of Pu'er on Monday and Tuesday, according to the provincial disaster relief office.

Direct losses had reached 206 million yuan (US$32.34 million), the office announced in a statement.

A section of National Highway No. 323 between counties of Jinggu and Ning'er had collapsed, the statement said.

Traffic workers were rushing to repair the section of the road.

More than 600 soldiers had been mobilized to search for the missing and help relocate residents.