China landslide: 35 people among missing found safe; 15 killed

Beijing: China on Tuesday further trimmed the list of people buried under a huge landslide last Saturday to 73 after verifying that 35 people who were believed to be missing were found.

So far 15 people were killed and 73 were listed buried under the debris of the massive landslide. Officials say chances of their survival is very slim.

Another 20 people have been confirmed safe and taken off the missing list after the landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday, rescue headquarters said today.

The 20 people have been reached and confirmed as not among those buried under mud and rock, the headquarters said.

So far, a total of 35 people believed missing in the landslide have been confirmed safe, the official media reported.

The landslide engulfed 62 homes in Xinmo village in Maoxian County in the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba Saturday morning, blocking a 2-km section of river and burying 1,600 meters of road.

Ten bodies have been found in the debris and 73 people are unaccounted for. Meanwhile, a minor landslide hit the village again on Tuesday.

The ruins of the massive landslide site was hit by minor secondary slides Tuesday morning, local rescue authorities said.

The slides occurred at around 11 AM in the flattened village of Xinmo, Maoxian County, Sichuan Province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Rocks and mud measuring about 100 cubic meters fell. But no injuries were reported as the area was cordoned off following a landslide warning issued on Monday, the report said.