Hopes fade in China as more landslide victims found and 93 missing

Ten more bodies were recovered by early afternoon on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 25, according to Xinmo's propaganda department.

Relatives mourn at the site of a landslide in Xinmo village, in Maoxian County of south-western China’s Sichuan province, on June 25, 2017. Ng Han Guan / AP Photo

MAO COUNTY, CHINA // Rescue workers in China pulled more bodies out of piles of rock and mud on Sunday as they searched for 93 people still missing a day after a landslide buried a mountain village, as of finding survivors fade.

A couple and their two-month-old baby were the only survivors found alive in the rubble hours after the massive landslide crashed down on the village of Xinmo, in the south-west province of Sichuan as dawn broke on Saturday.

Authorities reduced the number of missing after confirming the safety of 15 people directly or through relatives, according to the official microblog for Xinmo’s propaganda department.

Ten more bodies were recovered by early afternoon on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 25, the microblog said.

Geological experts said that chances of survival for the missing were slim, state-owned Xinhua news agency reported.

“We weren’t able to pull anyone out alive,” said Wu Youheng, who lives in a neighbouring village and rushed to help rescue efforts on Saturday.

“We pulled out two people but they were already dead. I think it’s too late, they’re unlikely to find anyone else alive.”

Mr Wu said that the area was prone to landslides but the scale of Saturday’s slide was unprecedented.

His wife, Zhang Xiaohong, said that they often slept in other villages because of fear of landslides but could not afford to move to the safer capital of Mao county, where Xinmo is located.

At risk from more landslides in the area, a massive rescue effort involving more than 3,000 people was under way, Xinhua reported.

The names of the missing were posted on government websites, it said.

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) showed images of industrial excavators removing rubble from a hillside along with workers in hard hats.

Heavy rain triggered the landslide, authorities said, although further light showers expected on Sunday and Monday were not expected to affect search efforts, CCTV reported.

Reports of the landslide remained largely absent from wider Chinese media apart from Xinhua, CCTV and party mouthpiece People's Daily.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres offered his condolences and said the UN was prepared to offer any needed support.

Sichuan is prone to earthquakes, including a 8.0 magnitude tremor in the province’s central Wenchuan county in 2008 that killed nearly 70,000 people.

* Reuters