Beijing: One person was killed and 10 others
went missing on Saturday when a rain-triggered landslide hit a
mountain-side brickyard in northwest China, officials said.
The landslide roared down the mountain in the afternoon
and engulfed the brickyard located 300 meters away in a
suburban district of Xi'an City, the capital of Shaanxi
Province, they said.
A villager from the nearby village of Maoxi said people
in the workshop and the dormitory who were unable to escape
were buried. The brickyard's chimney was also toppled by the
landslide.
More than 700 police, firefighters, and local residents
have joined the rescue, Xinhua news agency reported.
Torrential rains have been pounding nearly 60 of
Shaanxi's counties since September 4, triggering mountain
torrents and landslides, the provincial civil affairs
department said Saturday.
Persistent rains have killed nine people and forced
47,200 to evacuate their homes in the last few weeks.
The local disaster relief agency warned that more rains
are expected to hit Shaanxi through Monday, urging government
departments to guard against rain-triggered disasters.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, September 17, 2011, 19:39