Beijing: A landslide in southwestern China's mountainous Yunnan province buried at least 47 people and forced the evacuation of 200 others amid freezing temperatures and falling snow.
The disaster occurred just before 6 a.m. on Monday (Kunming time) in Liangshui Village in the northeastern part of Yunnan Province. The Chinxiong County Propaganda Department said rescue efforts were underway to find the victims buried in 18 separate houses.
Rescue workers deal with the aftermath of a landslide in Yunnan Province, China.credit: China Xinhua News
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. The cause of the landslide was not immediately known, although images showed snow falling on the ground and continuing to fall.
Lu Dongmei, 35, was asleep when the landslide occurred, but she survived and was taken to a school by local authorities.
“I was asleep, but my brother knocked on the door and woke me up. They said there was a landslide there and the bed was shaking, so they ran upstairs and woke us up,” Luo said.
Luo, her husband and their three children, along with many other residents, added that they had received food at school, but were still waiting to receive blankets and other protection from the cold weather.
Lu said she was unable to contact her sister and aunt, who live near the landslide site. “The only thing I can do is wait.”
Rescuers evacuated tourists last week from a remote ski area in northwest China where dozens of avalanches triggered by heavy snow had trapped more than 1,000 people for a week. Avalanches blocked roads, stranding tourists and residents in a village in Altai County in the Xinjiang region, near China's borders with Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan.
