Landslide in Tibet gold mine area buries 83 people
Source: Shanghai Daily |
March 30, 2013, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A MASSIVE landslide swept through a gold mining area in mountainous Tibet Autonomous Region in China's southwest early yesterday morning, burying 83 workers believed to have been asleep at the time.
About 2 million cubic meters of mud, rock and debris engulfed the area as the workers were resting and covered an area measuring around 4 square kilometers, according to China Central Television.
The workers in Lhasa's Maizhokunggar County worked for a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corp, a state-owned enterprise and the country's largest gold producer.
Xinhua said at least two of the buried workers were Tibetan. CCTV said most of the workers were believed to be Han Chinese.
The site is about 70 kilometers east of Lhasa, the regional capital.
More than 1,000 police, firefighters, soldiers and medics have been deployed to the site to conduct searches armed with devices to detect signs of life and accompanied by sniffer dogs.
About 200 large vehicles and equipment, 15 sniffer dogs and 15 life-detector machines are being used in the rescue operation, made difficult due to the size of the affected area, said an official from the regional fire department.
Five excavators, pick-up trucks and an SUV are buried under the debris, said Zou Yuming, deputy head of the Maizhokunggar County government.
The reports said the landslide was caused by a "natural disaster."
Doctors reached at the county hospital said they had been told to prepare to receive survivors but none had arrived.
"We were ordered to make all efforts to receive the injured," said a doctor who gave only her surname, Ge, in the hospital's emergency section.
Ge said the hospital transferred some of its patients to other facilities to increase the number of beds available and that 16 doctors were on duty.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang yesterday ordered all-out efforts to rescue the buried workers.
About 2 million cubic meters of mud, rock and debris engulfed the area as the workers were resting and covered an area measuring around 4 square kilometers, according to China Central Television.
The workers in Lhasa's Maizhokunggar County worked for a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corp, a state-owned enterprise and the country's largest gold producer.
Xinhua said at least two of the buried workers were Tibetan. CCTV said most of the workers were believed to be Han Chinese.
The site is about 70 kilometers east of Lhasa, the regional capital.
More than 1,000 police, firefighters, soldiers and medics have been deployed to the site to conduct searches armed with devices to detect signs of life and accompanied by sniffer dogs.
About 200 large vehicles and equipment, 15 sniffer dogs and 15 life-detector machines are being used in the rescue operation, made difficult due to the size of the affected area, said an official from the regional fire department.
Five excavators, pick-up trucks and an SUV are buried under the debris, said Zou Yuming, deputy head of the Maizhokunggar County government.
The reports said the landslide was caused by a "natural disaster."
Doctors reached at the county hospital said they had been told to prepare to receive survivors but none had arrived.
"We were ordered to make all efforts to receive the injured," said a doctor who gave only her surname, Ge, in the hospital's emergency section.
Ge said the hospital transferred some of its patients to other facilities to increase the number of beds available and that 16 doctors were on duty.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang yesterday ordered all-out efforts to rescue the buried workers.
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