Rescue operations ongoing after deadly landslides hit rural Guizhou county

Rescue operations are ongoing after two separate landslides struck a rural county in southwest China's Guizhou Province on Thursday, leaving at least four dead as the search for 17 other missing residents continues.

The disasters hit two remote townships in Guizhou's Dafang County on Thursday morning, with the first incident occurring at around 03:00 in Changshi town and the second striking the town of Guowa at about 09:00.

Authorities said later on Thursday evening that the bodies of two victims had been recovered from Changshi, while another two fatalities were confirmed in Guowa, where the search for the 17 remaining victims is now continuing amid challenging conditions.

The landslide in Guowa occurred when massive volumes of earth and rock cascaded down from a ridgeline near an adjacent mountain top, violently descending into the valley below.

The geological instability of the area has further complicated rescue efforts, with the main road leading to the town being buried by the landslide, blocking access for large rescue equipment.

Rescue teams, including firefighters and personnel from the China Anneng Construction Group Corporation, have reached the site on foot to carry out search and rescue operations.

Meanwhile, a large drone has also been deployed to aerially transport essential equipment such as life detectors, 5G transmission devices, and other rescue materials to the disaster zone.

Rescuers are racing against time to locate and reach those who are thought to be trapped in the households engulfed by the huge mounds of rubble, which extends for hundreds of meters.

"The landslide mass spans an elevation difference of about 390 meters from the top to bottom, stretching about 900 meters in length, and reaches a width of up to 240 meters at its widest point," said Lu Jun, chief engineer at the institute of surveying and mapping under the Guizhou provincial government's natural resources department.

The Ministry of Emergency Management has activated emergency response measures for the geological disasters and has dispatched a working team to the site to guide rescue operations.

The ministry also urged swift efforts to verify the situation, carry out the vital search and rescue work, and also take steps to guard against the occurrence of any secondary disasters.

Rescue operations ongoing after deadly landslides hit rural Guizhou county

Rescue operations ongoing after deadly landslides hit rural Guizhou county

Rescue operations ongoing after deadly landslides hit rural Guizhou county

Rescue operations ongoing after deadly landslides hit rural Guizhou county

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight