China landslide death toll rises to 24

Rescuers search for survivors at the site of a landslide in Liupanshui in China’s southwestern Guizhou province on July 26, 2019. – The death toll in a landslide that buried a village in southwest China rose to 20 on July 26, with 25 people still missing three days after the disaster, state media said. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT

 

BEIJING, China (AFP) — The death toll in a landslide that buried a village in southwest China rose to 24 on Friday, with 27 people still missing three days after the disaster, state media said.

Four more bodies were found on Friday after five, including two children and a mother with a baby, were unearthed the day before in Shuicheng county, Guizhou province, according to official news outlets.

Eleven people have been found alive since the side of a hill collapsed on 22 homes late Tuesday, covering them in thick mud.

Previous reports said 25 people were missing but the official Xinhua news agency raised the number to 27, saying non-residents who were visiting the village had not been counted.

Landslides are a frequent danger in rural and mountainous parts of China, particularly after heavy rain, and the country has suffered heavy flooding this year.

 

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