China landslide survivor in hospital after 67-hour ordeal

CNN’s Matt Rivers and Yuli Yang reported from Shenzhen, Katie Hunt and Tiffany Ap wrote and reported from Hong Kong, Shen Lu reported from Beijing.

Lai Xiaolian, Shenzhen Firefighting Department Command deputy chief, said that although rescue efforts were taking place at six sites, with signs of survivors at one, the process was challenging as it involved “more than a landslide” and teams had to battle against mudflows and destroyed buildings. No other details were immediately known. Lax safety practices in China, which has experienced a spate of deadly incidents including an August explosion at a warehouse in the city of Tianjin that killed more than 170, is among factors that have fueled public angst in China.

On Wednesday, mud and earth were being extracted from the ground at a subway construction site in the city.

While no waste was being brought to the Hengtaiyu industrial park, dumping has also stopped at another controversial site in Shenzhen, in the district of Bujiuwo, which opened in 2008 and was due to close three years later.

“The wall of mud came down and hit us within minutes, it was so fast”, said Jiang Xuemin, 44, who lived and worked in the industrial park.

The Shenzhen government said 600 people had been relocated.

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 Xinhua report on the meeting said recent fatal accidents had “sounded the alarm” for officials.

“We didn’t hear that this area was unsafe”, she added.

Emergency services search a collapsed building after the landslide buried dozens of buildings.

Media said no foreign companies were believed to have been affected.

Tian is hospitalised in a stable condition but may lose one of his feet.

Among them were 14 factory buildings, 13 low-rise buildings, three dormitories, two office buildings and a canteen.

Authorities said it was hard to calculate the exact number of missing because numerous people living and working there are thought to be migrant workers from China’s poorer, inland provinces, who are often unregistered or their relatives so far away to be contacted quickly.

Using life detectors, excavators and drones about 3,000 rescue worker carefully dug through the almost five-storey mud pile stretching up to 10 football fields for survivors.