91 missing after huge landslide of waste buries buildings in China

Rescuers are searching for at least 91 missing people a day after a mountain of excavated soil and construction waste buried dozens of buildings when it swept through an industrial park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. The landslide buried or damaged 33 buildings in the industrial park in Shenzhen, a major manufacturing center in Guangdong province across the border from Hong Kong that makes products used around the world ranging from cellphones to cars. Aerial photos on the microblog of the Public Security Ministry’s Firefighting Bureau showed the area awash in a sea of red mud, with several buildings either knocked on their side or collapsed entirely.

The pile was too big, the pile was too steep, leading to instability and collapse.

Ministry of Land and Resources

Posts on the microblog said mud had thoroughly infused many of the buildings, leaving the “room of survival extremely small”. The Ministry of Land and Resources said it had dispatched additional personnel to help monitor the situation and guard against a second collapse. The 33 damaged or collapsed buildings included 14 factories, two office buildings, one cafeteria, three dormitories and 13 sheds or workshops, Shenzhen Deputy Mayor Liu Qingsheng said. The initial landslide sparked an explosion in a section of a natural gas pipeline owned by PetroChina, the country’s top oil and gas producer.

Shenzhen Asia-Pacific