BEIJING: At least 33 people are missing a day after landslides swept through two east China villages, state media reported yesterday, as rescuers combed through rubble for survivors.
Heavy wind and rains brought by Typhoon Megi triggered the landslides around 5.30pm (0930 GMT) Wednesday, which struck the villages of Sucun and
Baofeng in eastern Zhejiang province, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Thirteen people had been rescued by early yesterday and 33 remain missing, it said.
Video footage on local media showed torrents of water and rock pouring down a mountain towards houses in the valley below while terrified onlookers scream.
Twenty houses were destroyed and 17 flooded by roughly 400,000 cubic metres of debris, Xinhua cited a county official saying.
The government has relocated almost 1,500 residents and dispatched 1,200 rescuers to the scene with pumps and excavators, but roaring floodwaters have hampered their efforts, it said, adding that smaller landslides are ‘likely’ to be triggered.
“Our work now is to save people, survivors above all, and at the same time prevent further secondary disasters occurring,” the Suichang County Armed Forces chief said on state broadcaster CCTV. — AFP