Rescue efforts underway after landslide buries residents in southwest China

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​An unknown number of people were buried after a landslide struck a county in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing on Friday, causing residential ‌buildings downhill to collapse, according to state media.

Preliminary verification indicated that a Pengshui county community worker spotted scattered falling rocks around 8 a.m. local ​time and issued an emergency ​warning, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Authorities ordered an evacuation affecting more than 60 residents, but the landslide ​occurred during the evacuation at 9:08 a.m., burying ⁠some people.

The ⁠exact number of ‌those trapped was still being confirmed, the report said.

Nine people had been pulled from the rubble, according to the official ⁠Xinhua news agency.

It was not immediately clear what caused the landslide.

A street lined with businesses and debris from a landslide.
Debris at the site of buildings that collapsed in the landslide, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. (Reuters)

Aerial footage from CCTV showed rock and debris ‌falling on a cluster of riverside residential buildings, while people could be seen fleeing with a thick plume of dust billowing behind them.

A dashcam video posted ​on X, verified by Reuters, showed a section of hillside collapsing onto ⁠homes and businesses below, sending debris across the road and ⁠forcing passing cars and a motorcycle to stop.

China’s Ministry ⁠of ⁠Emergency Management activated ​a level-two emergency response and dispatched a 100-member rescue team to the ​scene, the ⁠ministry said in a statement.

Some 206 personnel and 49 vehicles from China’s fire and rescue force were sent to the site to assist in rescue efforts, the ministry said. 

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