(Beijing) A landslide buried at least 47 people in southwest China’s Yunnan province on Monday, according to a preliminary estimate, state media said.
The tragedy unfolded at 5:51 a.m. (4:51 p.m. [heure de l’Est] Sunday) in the village of Liangshui, located in the canton of Zhenxiong and “47 people from 18 households were buried”, indicated the Xinhua news agency.
“More than 200 residents were urgently evacuated, 10 excavators, 33 fire trucks and more than 200 rescuers were mobilized for search operations,” said public television CCTV.
A video published by New China shows around ten firefighters in orange suits and helmets advancing on what appears to be concrete blocks and other debris.
Images published on the Chinese social network Douyin show a mountain village covered in snow and with houses partly buried by what appears to be a landslide.
The scene of the tragedy is located about 1,600 kilometers southwest of Shanghai as the crow flies and some 350 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital Kunming.
Landslides occur regularly in mountainous southwest China, especially after rainfall.