Death toll from Gansu floods rises to 15 as rescue efforts continue

Rescue efforts are continuing after torrential rain triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County, northwest China's Gansu Province, which had left 15 dead and 28 missing as of 18:00 on Saturday, local authorities said.

A total of 9,828 people in the disaster area had been evacuated to safety as of Friday night.

Torrential rain began pounding Yuzhong, which is under the jurisdiction of the provincial capital city of Lanzhou, and other parts of Lanzhou on Thursday evening, with the maximum precipitation reaching 220.2 mm by noon Friday.

According to results of a preliminary investigation, a total of 51 road sections with a mileage of 102.2 kilometers were damaged, including one national highway section measuring 200 meters, one provincial highway section with a mileage of six kilometers, two county road sections with a length of 24 kilometers, three township roads with a length of 12 kilometers, 44 village roads with a length of 60 kilometers, and three bridges.

Since Friday evening, rescuers have been working overnight in the hardest-hit Mapo Township, sparing no effort to find the people still listed as missing.

Carrying shovels and other tools in hands, rescuers successively crossed the muddy rapids to carry out search and rescue operations all through the night.

More than 130 sets of mechanical equipment and over 670 emergency personnel have been dispatched from across the province to the front line to carry out search and rescue and road restoration operations.

As of 18:00 on Saturday, road access to the affected villages had all been restored.

Death toll from Gansu floods rises to 15 as rescue efforts continue

A wildfire that engulfed part of a forest in Shantou City of south China's Guangdong Province on Sunday has been extinguished after 17 hours of concerted efforts by multiple departments including emergency response, firefighting and public security units.

Villagers living at the foot of Xianglu Mountain were the first to notice the fire erupting on its slopes.

"It looked far away and I thought it was just someone burning garbage," recalled one villager.

Upon discovering the fire, local authorities immediately organized personnel to combat the flames, with mobilization of over 200 rescuers from surrounding areas to assist in the firefighting efforts.

"We were divided into two to three groups, with one conducting regular firefighting and another using water pumps to extinguish the fire," said one rescuer.

Given the rapid spread of the fire, local officials also called in aerial support with helicopters to aid in extinguishing the blaze. Furthermore, many personnel organized by local grassroots departments were actively involved in the firefighting efforts.

By 06:00 on Monday, the wildfire was finally extinguished without causing any casualties. The dry climate in winter increases the risk of forest fire in the region. However, the cause of the forest fire is still under investigation.

Wildfire extinguished in south China's Guangdong after 17 hours of efforts