Death toll in landslide in China's Yunnan province rises to 11

Beijing: The death toll from a landslide that struck southwest China's mountainous Yunnan province has climbed to 11, state media said on Tuesday as rescuers raced against time to search for survivors.

The landslide struck the Liangshui village of Zhaotong city at 5:51 am Beijing time on Monday, trapping a total of 47 people, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 11 of the nearly 50 people were confirmed dead in the landslide, while 500 residents were evacuated from the landslide-hit areas.

According to a preliminary investigation by an expert group, the landslide was triggered by the collapse of a steep cliff-top area measuring almost 100 metres in width and 60 metres in height, the report said.

The Ministry of Emergency Management upgraded the emergency response level to the second-highest level from the Level-III emergency response for disaster relief activated by the Provincial Commission for Disaster Reduction immediately after the landslide.

The ministry dispatched teams to the disaster-hit area to guide the rescue and relief work, according to the official media.

The Chinese government has allocated disaster relief funds totalling 50 million yuan (about USD 7 million) to support disaster relief and emergency rescue work focusing on search and rescue, the relocation of affected people, secondary disaster detection, the repair of damaged homes, and other areas, the report said.

More than 1,000 rescue workers equipped with 45 rescue dogs and 120 vehicles, including excavators, loaders and transport vehicles, were carrying out search and rescue work at the site.

As many as 33 firefighting vehicles and 10 loading machines were also mobilised to search for the missing.

Over 200 tents, 400 quilts, 600 cotton coats and 14 sets of emergency lighting equipment were also provided.

On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an all-out search and rescue of the people missing in the landslide.

"[We should] promptly organise rescue teams, make all-out efforts to search for missing individuals, and minimise casualties to the greatest extent possible," Xi was quoted as saying in the Xinhua report.

The government has also deployed the military and militias for the rescue operation. A total of 104 militia members in Zhenxiong County were also mobilised, the report said.

Situated in the cold mountainous region of the province, where snow persists for days, the rescue site remains covered in a thick layer of snow.

The rescue officials outlined the primary search area through a comparative analysis of images before and after the disaster, determining the locations of the buried houses, the report said.