UPDATES DEATH TOLL
By Mahmut Atanur
BEIJING (AA) – At least 26 people have been confirmed dead while more than a dozen others remain missing after a landslide struck a construction site at a hydropower station in southeast China’s Fujian province.
State news agency Xinhua cited Taining County sources as saying that rescuers were faced with difficult conditions caused by heavy rainfall as they searched for 13 people missing since Sunday morning.
Workers were reported to have been sleeping when around 100,000 cubic meters (3,531,467 cubic feet) of mud and rocks buried a temporary shed and damaged office buildings at the construction site.
The region had been battered by heavy rains overnight, with rainfall reported to have hit 191.6 mm in some areas in 24 hours.
Xinhua quoted Zheng Guoen, deputy chief of Fujian’s drought and flood control office, as warning that residents were required to evacuate immediately in case of further geological disasters.
