Rescuers in southwest China race against time to reach residents trapped by landslide
Beijing activates Level 2 national emergency response as heavy rainfall triggers huge landslide in Chongqing, with more bad weather forecast
Hundreds of rescuers in southwestern China are racing against incoming thunderstorms to pull residents from the mud and debris after a landslide on Friday morning destroyed buildings in Chongqing municipality.
Local community officials in Hanjia subdistrict of Chongqing’s Pengshui Miao and Tujia autonomous county, witnessed sporadic rockfalls and issued an emergency warning at about 8am on Friday. They rushed to evacuate more than 60 residents, according to mainland news portal Thepaper.cn.
The report said a large landslide occurred about an hour later, crashing through several residential buildings and trapping residents who were in the process of leaving.
Ten people had been rescued by 2pm, the outlet said, quoting a government source.
It said more than 1,100 people living near the landslide site had been safely evacuated while water, electricity and gas were cut off within a 1km (0.6-mile) radius of the disaster site to aid risk assessment. More than 800 rescuers were at the scene.
