Man Rescued Three Days After Mudslide in China

A teenager has been rescued from a landslide after spending 60 hours under the rubble in Shenzhen, China.

Wang Yongquan, who narrowly escaped the Shenzhen landslide, said he and his neighbors had watched trucks carrying construction waste for the past two years, and seen a mountain of rubble grow where once was a hollow quarry.

Tian, who had started working for Dejicheng Fine Hardware Company on the industrial estate only about 10 days ago, is so far the first, perhaps only, survivor of the most deadly landslide to hit Shenzhen for decades.

Tian has undergone surgery for a broken hand and injuries to his foot, which had been wedged against a door frame.

However, it later reported that rescuers found another body rather than a survivor.

He told rescuers there was another person buried near him, but officials said they did not survive.

Rescuers carry Tian Zeming, one of the two survivors found, after he was pulled from debris on Dec 23, 2015.

The search teams who found Tian worked in a confined space and removed the debris by hand, one rescuer revealed.

Officials said he was lucky to be alive because the building’s wall held firm.

The government has pledged an investigation into the disaster, after documents posted on the city’s web site showed that authorities had issued repeated warnings about the problem.

A statement by China’s land ministry Sunday blamed the tragedy on the collapse of a 100-meter tall mountain of construction waste and dirt stored at a nearby waste dump, which was weakened by heavy rainstorms in the region. The landslide toppled buildings and ruptured a gas pipeline, so clearing the site could take weeks, it added.

Chinese authorities have not confirmed any deaths.

Meanwhile, police reportedly stormed the office of the Shenzhen Yixianglong Investment Development, the company handling the Shenzhen dumpsite and confiscated a computer and documents, and taken away its deputy head Yu Shengli. At least 160 people were killed in massive chemical blasts in the northern port city of Tianjin in August.

Reports said a district government report in January warned of a “catastrophe”.
Under pressure from the media, officials allowed about 30 journalists, mostly from foreign outlets, to approach an edge of the disaster area.