One Survivor Found, Dozens Still Missing In China Landslide

Migrant worker Tian Zeming survived while buried for 67 hours under eight metres of rubble following Sunday morning’s deadly landslide in Shenzhen by thinking of his mother and eating sunflower seeds and grapefruit.

Two people were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning after being buried for more than 60 hours, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The parents of 6-year-old Hong Laibao were delivering goods at an industrial park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen when a mountain of construction waste collapsed, engulfing factory buildings and homes.

Xinhua later said that another body was also discovered, although it was not clear if that was the person to whom Tian had referred.

Xinhua reported that rescuers had located him underground at 3.30am and pulled him out of a collapsed factory building three hours later.

The government is blaming the landslide on a steep man-made mountain of dirt, where waste and construction material had been piled up against a hill to the height of 100 m (328 feet) over two years.

Heavy rains then saturated the soil, causing it to collapse with massive force, the AP said.

Among the 75 people still listed as missing, 50 are men and 25 are women, Shenzhen Vice Mayor Liu Qingsheng said on Tuesday.

“After verification, as of 2:30pm on December 22, 76 people in total are still missing, of whom 51 are male and 25 female”.

No official death toll has yet been given following the disaster.

The Legal Evening News reported that a district government report in January found that the dump had received 1 million cubic meters of waste and warned of a “catastrophe”.

As dozens of excavators and about 4,000 rescuers continued to claw through the cinnamon-coloured mud for victims, survivors recounted fleeing for their lives as a tsunami of earth and debris swept towards them.

According to Reuters, police investigated the premises of the company responsible on Tuesday, but saw no sign of employees, highlighting a need for stronger regulatory measures in China’s works management.

More than 30 buildings were completely or partially swallowed up by the landslide.

Rescue efforts are further complicated by the soil, which is masking the smell of potential survivors, making it hard for search dogs to find trapped people.