Update: 47 buried in southwest China's landslide

KUNMING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A total of 47 people were buried in a landslide that struck southwest China's Yunnan Province early Monday.

More than 200 rescuers together with 33 firefighting vehicles and 10 loading machines were combing the debris to search for the missing, after the disaster happened in Liangshui Village, Tangfang Town in the city of Zhaotong at 5:51 a.m. on Monday.

"At around 6 a.m. I heard the rumbling of landslide. Every now and then there was a sound of collapse, accompanied by the clatter of falling rocks," the villager Deng Jieshu recalled.

Deng, who was about two kilometers from the site of landslide, saw at the scene that some houses were all buried, while some were crushed.

"Now rescuers have arrived, and about 200 of us have been relocated to a local primary school," Deng said.

The buried villagers were from 18 households, according to the headquarters for the disaster relief. Emergency workers in orange overalls and helmets were digging through piles of collapsed bricks and stones in snow-covered mountains.

More than 200 residents were evacuated as the provincial commission for disaster reduction activated a Level-III emergency response for disaster relief.

Yunnan, a mountainous border province where landslides are prone to occur, is among several China's southern provinces currently hit by a cold wave. Local weather forecast said there will be light snow in the town on Tuesday, with the lowest temperature expected to reach minus three degrees Celsius. ■