Officials say 15 confirmed dead in China landslide

BEIJING — The Latest on a landslide in southwestern China (all times local):

2:30 a.m.

The Xinhua news agency reports that 15 people are confirmed dead in a landslide in southwestern China.

Officials leading the rescue effort tell Xinhua that workers retrieved the 15 bodies from the debris by 10 p.m. Saturday.

The news agency says that no new signs of life have been found. About 1,000 workers with life-detection instruments are searching for survivors.

At 6 a.m. Saturday, more than 120 people were buried by a landslide that caused huge rocks and a mass of earth to come crashing into their homes in the mountain village of Xinmo in Mao County.

The Sichuan provincial government says the landslide, which came from a mountain, engulfed a cluster of 62 homes and a hotel. Officials said 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) of road were buried in the disaster.


1:30 a.m.

Officials say more than 120 people were buried by a landslide that caused huge rocks and a mass of earth to come crashing into their homes in a mountain village in southwestern China.

The Sichuan provincial government says the landslide, which came from a mountain, engulfed a cluster of 62 homes and a hotel in the village of Xinmo in Mao County at about 6 a.m. Saturday. Officials say 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) of road were buried in the disaster.

The provincial government says more than 120 people were buried by the landslide. State broadcaster China Central Television cited a rescuer as saying five bodies had been found.

The official Sichuan Daily newspaper said on its microblog that rescuers pulled out three people, two of whom had survived.


1:30 p.m.

Around 100 people are feared buried by a landslide that crashed into their homes in southwestern China early Saturday, a county government said.

The landslide from a mountain fell onto the village of Xinmo at about 6 a.m., burying some 40 homes, the government of Mao county in Sichuan province said. The landslide blocked a 2 kilometer (1.24 mile)-section of a river.

Search and rescue efforts were underway. State broadcaster CCTV said more than 400 rescuers, including police, are involved.

Photos posted on the site showed piles of rubble and large rocks while emergency responders helped a woman by the road.

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