Mudslide Kills 14 in Southwest China

At least 14 people in Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, were killed in a catastrophic mudslide that also destroyed a local hydraulic power station on August 13.

Twenty-seven were injured and four people are still missing. Until this morning, the rescue team had not given up the hope of finding the missing people, according to Zhang Xinying, director of the power station, who organized the rescue efforts.

Zhang told Xinhua via telephone that the calamity also caused financial losses estimated at over 20 million yuan.

The landslide occurred at about 12:15 p.m. and the mudslide leveled the power station to the ground. The building had 45 staff workers inside.

A funeral was held today by the local government.

An expert team, led by Sun Wensheng, vice-minister of land and resources, visited Yingjiang from August 17-18, to investigate the mudslide and also met with the relatives of the victims.



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