At least 22 people were today missing after a massive landslide hit an industrial park, crushing 22 buildings in Shenzhen, one of China’s most developed cities, as hundreds of rescuers scrambled through piles of debris for any sign of life.
The landslide hit the Liuxi Industrial Park in Guangming New District in northwest part of the city in south China that borders Hong Kong.
More than 1,500 people including firemen, police and health workers are involved in the rescue operations, searching the debris for any trapped victims.
Four persons were pulled out alive, three of whom have suffered minor injuries, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting officials from the rescue headquarters as saying.
As many as 22 people were missing, it said, lowering the number from 41 earlier. It also had previously said that eight persons were brought to safety, with just one suffering minor injuries.
By 5 pm local time, rescuers have evacuated more than 900 residents from the site.
An area of 20,000 square metres was covered with soil, according to the Ministry of Public Security’s firefighting bureau.
It rained in Shenzhen today and roads at the scene were muddy, the city’s Daily Sunshine reported.
Videos and photos posted on the microblogging website Weibo showed huge pile of dust and rocks engulfing the area with heavy noise and rescue helicopters in operation.
The 22 buildings buried in the landslide included two workers’ dormitories, state broadcaster CCTV said. A residential area was also situated beside the industrial park.
Ren Jiguang, deputy chief of Shenzhen’s public security bureau, told the TV station that most people were moved to safety before the disaster hit, but that they could not be sure no one had been buried in the landslide.
The Beijing Youth Daily, citing a local resident, reported that the loose soil in the landslide had been dug up in construction work over the past two years and piled up against a 100-metre-high hill.
State media carried photos of partially collapsed buildings which, rescuers said, were housing 15 companies.
Last month, a landslide triggered by flooding in China killed 38 people in the eastern province of Zhejiang. An avalanche of mud and rock caused by torrential rains engulfed 27 homes. Earlier the same month, at least five persons were killed in a landslide on a mountain caused by explosion in the northeast.