Death toll in northwest China landslide rises to 19

[News_Editor]

Death toll in northwest China landslide rises to 19

2011-09-21 04:24:54 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll has risen to 19 after a landslide caused by heavy rainfall buried two small factories in northwest China last week, local media reported Tuesday.

On Saturday, heavy rains brought large amounts of rock and mud down a mountain in a suburb of Xi'an in China's Shaanxi Province called Baqiao, engulfing a brick factory and destroying part of a nearby ceramics factory at around 2 p.m. local time.

A previous casualty toll was put at 10 people killed and 22 others missing, but local officials said that as of Tuesday afternoon, 19 people have been killed while 13 others remain unaccounted for, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Zhu Zhisheng, vice mayor of the provincial capital city of Xi'an, previously stated that at least five people were injured during the landslide and had been hospitalized in a stable condition. Xinhua gave no update on their conditions on Tuesday.

Emergency teams have continued working in the area, as rescuers use heavy machinery to try and locate the missing employees. More than 700 police, firefighters, and local residents have joined the rescue operation but three follow-up slides have hampered the rescue efforts.

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