Tragedy in China: Nineteen dead under landslide
Nineteen people died yesterday in a landslide in Sichuan province, in southwest China, Chinese state media reported.
According to the initial information about the accident, the local government reported 14 dead and five missing, but the bodies of the missing were later found, official media reports.
The sources state that the landslide occurred at the top of the mountain, near a forest farm, near the town of Leshana.
At 20 p.m. (14 p.m. CET), the 19th victim was found and the search for the missing was called off, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
More than 180 people have been dispatched to the crash site to search for survivors, local authorities said.
The crash site is in a mountainous area, about 240 kilometers south of Chengdu, the administrative center of the province. About 40.000 people live in this rural province, mainly from forestry and agriculture.
Landslides are a common hazard in China's mountainous and rural areas, especially during the rainy season.