Eight more deaths were reported this morning in north China's Shanxi
Province, bringing the death toll from the rain-triggered mud-rock flow that
caused the collapse of a warehouse to 34, the local rescue headquarters said
today.
Another 35 people were injured in the accident as of 3 a.m. Tuesday.
Five experts and more than 150 local medical personnel are treating the
injured.
The accident occurred around 8 a.m. on Monday in a warehouse holding waste
ore dregs of the Tashan Mine in Xiangfen County, Linfen City, which was soaked
by torrential rain.
A rescue team of more than 1,100 police, fire fighters and local people were
searching through the rubble, said Ding Wenlu, the rescue headquarters chief.
But rough terrain, poor telecommunications and continuous rainfall hampered
the rescue effort.
The mud-rock flow also destroyed a three-story office building, a market and
some villagers' houses in the valley.
Witness said the flow roared down the valley and washed away the market and
the houses in a few minutes.
Local police said the mine owner and eight others related to the accident had
been detained.
There are several other ore mines Xiangfen. The staff there are mostly
migrant workers from Shanxi, Chongqing and the central Hubei Province, which
makes it difficult to identify the victims in this accident, rescuers said.
The specific number of the people trapped underneath the rubbles still under
investigation.