Eight people were killed and 34 others are still missing after a landslide in a county in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing yesterday, local government officials told a Press conference.
In a late directive, President Xi Jinping ordered search and rescue operations to be carried out for the missing and called for an investigation into the cause of the landslide.
Preliminary verification indicated that a Pengshui county community worker spotted scattered falling rocks around 8am local time and issued an emergency warning.
Authorities ordered an evacuation of more than 60 residents, but the landslide occurred during the evacuation at 9:08 a.m.
The landslide has caused multiple residential buildings downhill to collapse, prompting the evacuation of more than 1,000 residents from nearby areas.
As of yesterday afternoon, 10 people had been injured, including two who were seriously injured and two in critical condition, local government told the press briefing.
Aerial footage from CCTV showed rock and debris falling on a cluster of riverside residential buildings, while people could be seen fleeing with a thick plume of dust billowing behind them.
It was not immediately clear what caused the landslide.
A dashcam video posted on X, verified by Reuters, showed a section of hillside collapsing onto homes and businesses below, sending debris across the road and forcing passing cars and a motorcycle to stop.
China’s Ministry of Emergency Management activated a level-two emergency response and dispatched a 100-member rescue team to the scene, the ministry said in a statement.
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