Beijing: Nineteen people, including 18 school children, buried under a huge landslide which engulfed a school in southwest China have been killed, the rescuers said on Friday.
The death toll in yesterday`s landslide has risen to 19 as one more body was retrieved, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The dead included 18 primary school students who were present in Shangba Primary School in Yunnan Province even though it was closed for National Day holidays.
The children came to attend a special class arranged for making up the lost time during the recent earthquake that ravaged the area. They were preparing for the special classes when the landslide struck.
The landslide also blocked a river nearby, forming a barrier lake that is 15 meters wide and seven meters deep, a spokesman said.
Yiliang was struck by multiple earthquakes on September 7, which left 81 people dead and 800 others injured.
Three buildings of the school were also damaged in the earthquakes, forcing over 30 students to have lessons at the nearby Tiantou Primary School.
PTI
