Massive rescue operation on as 85 go missing in China landslide

Racing against time, hundreds of rescuers battling inclement weather on Monday mounted a massive operation to locate 85 missing people including 32 women in one of China’s worst landslides which struck an industrial estate in the Communist giant’s manufacturing hub of Shenzen.

The number of missing people in the landslide was revised to 85 from 91 after further checkups, local officials said.

A huge man-made mound of earth and construction debris lost stability and collapsed on Sunday, burying 33 buildings and triggering an explosion at a gas station in an industrial park in the southern city of Shenzhen in what is being termed as one of China’s worst urban disasters.

Rescuers sifted through hundreds of tonnes of mud from a crumbling mountain and debris from the buildings in one of China’s most developed cities, bordering Hong Kong.

Authorities mounted a massive rescue operation battling bad weather and low visibility, with 78 excavators and 1,200 rescuers added to the operation searching for the 85 people missing that includes 32 women, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

There are now 2,906 rescuers, including some 8,00 members of the armed forces, digging through silt and rubble at the Hengtaiyu industrial park. The excavators, which arrived at the site this morning, are the first to be involved in the operation, the report said.