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Rescuers worked through the night sifting deep mounds of earth
at the site of the landslide in Zhenxiong County, state-owned
China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday.
One rescuer said large machines cannot be used due to the
unstable soil, according to a report from local media outlet The
Cover, owned by the Sichuan Daily Newspaper Press Group.
"If the excavation is unloaded below, the top may continue to
collapse. It is difficult to carry out large-scale mechanical
operations, and it is very difficult to rescue on site," the
worker was quoted as saying in the report.
After the landslide hit on Monday, at least 47 people from 18
households were reported missing, CCTV said, adding that 25 of
those people were now confirmed dead. Another 19 were still
missing and three other people had been accounted for by the
rescue team.
Another two people were hospitalized for head and body injuries,
the national health commission said.
The landslide hit two villages in the southwestern city of
Zhaotong at about 5:51 a.m. (2151 GMT), covering houses in brown
mountain soil at the foot of a hill, CCTV reported.
"The mountain just collapsed, dozens were buried," a man
surnamed Gu, who witnessed the landslide, told the state-owned
TV station for the neighbouring province of Guizhou. Gu said
four of his relatives were buried under the rubble.
"They were all sleeping in their homes," he said.
More than 500 people were evacuated from their homes, CCTV said.
Officials told a press conference on Tuesday the landslide was
triggered at a steep cliff area at the top of a mountain slope.
(Reporting by Bernard Orr and Shanghai and Beijing newsroom;
Editing by Shri Navaratnam, William Maclean)
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