WATCH: Fatal landslide demolishes buildings at Chinese industrial park
AT LEAST 27 people were missing feared dead last night after a massive landslide buried 22 buildings in an industrial park in China.
Landslide buries buildings in industrial park in China
The landslide buried 22 buildings in Shenzhen, China
An area of 20,000 sq. metres was engulfed by soil at the city’s Hengtaiyu industrial park in Shenzhen, yesterday morning.
Rescuers dragged seven people from the soil with three suffering from minor injuries. More than 900 people were evacuated from the site by rescuers.
Shenzhen’s fire brigade said that at least one building had collapsed and the landslide had affected a large area in the northwestern outskirts of the city.
An area of 20,000 sq. metres was affected
A rescuer looks for survivors through the rubble
The landslide also triggered an explosion at a nearby gas station.
Shenzhen city officials confirmed that 21 men and six women were unaccounted for.
Li Yikang, the deputy secretary general of the Shenzhen city government, said that 22 factory buildings were buried, involving 15 companies.
Li said that nearly 1,500 people were involved in rescue efforts to find people buried under the soil.
Nearly 1,500 people were involved in the rescue efforts
21 men and 6 women are unaccounted for
The state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported that there was a residential area next to the industrial zone.
One of the buildings buried included two workers’ dormitories.
Ren Jiguang, the deputy chief of Shenzhen’s public security bureau, reassured the public that most people had been moved to safety before the landslide hit.
Local media reported that the soil which caused the devastation had been piled up against a 100-metre-high hill after being dug up in the past two years in construction work.