Rescuers Search for Shenzhen Landslide Survivors

The State Council, China’s cabinet, on Monday called for all-out efforts to ensure a smooth, fast rescue mission following Sunday’s landslide in the southern city of Shenzhen.

The site should have been closed down in February, but according to local workers, mud and waste had continued to be dumped there, a news portal run by the city government in Shenzhen said.

At least 85 people were missing in China on Monday a day after a giant flow of mud and construction waste spewed out of an overfull dump in a boomtown and buried 33 buildings in its latest industrial disaster. It’s the first reported death from the disaster.

“Everyone was yelling, ‘Run, run, ‘ and I didn’t take anything except my baby”, Chen Qing said, as she nursed her 1-year-old son in a shelter for survivors set up in a sports center. “We didn’t realise this could happen”.

The Ministry of Land and Resources said it had dispatched personnel to help guard against a second collapse.

“Shenzhen has 12 waste sites and they can only hold out until next year”, the official Shenzhen “Evening Post, published by the city government, said in October, 2014”.

Almost 3,000 people were involved in the rescue efforts, aided by 151 cranes, backhoes and other construction equipment, along with rescue dogs and specialized life-detecting equipment.

CCTV said President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang issued orders to make rescuing those trapped the top priority.

About 900 people were evacuated on Sunday as waves of soil and debris rolled across the district and sparked an explosion at a natural gas pipeline. By Monday morning, the fire was extinguished and a temporary section of pipe was being laid. Geysers of debris exploded into the air as the mud swept through the city.

Three decades of headlong economic growth have been catching up with China in terms of safety and damage to the environment.