Heavy rainfall that triggered mountain torrents and other geological disasters in Yongchuan District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, has left three people dead and 17 others missing as of 14:30 on Sunday.
The downpour hit Yongchuan from Saturday night to early Sunday, with the largest precipitation from 02:00 to 04:00 on Sunday reaching 296.6 millimeters. The largest hourly rainfall reached 103.6 millimeters.
The main disaster-stricken areas included Chashan Zhuhai (Tea Mountain and Bamboo Forest) Neighborhood, Zhongshan Road Neighborhood and Shuangshi Town.
Search and rescue operations are currently in full swing, involving more than 300 sets of equipment and over 400 rescuers.
Complicated conditions, such as mud mixed with rocks in worst-hit Daqiao Village in Chashan Zhuhai Neighborhood, have increased the difficulty in rescue operations.
Heavy rain in Chongqing causes 3 deaths, 17 missing
Chinese spacecraft developers have accelerated development of the spacecraft for the country's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceflight mission by five months — moving its launch from the original schedule in October to late May — achieving greater efficiency without compromising safety or reliability.
According to He Yu, general commander of China's manned spacecraft project of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the accelerated development began shortly after the emergency launch readiness of the Shenzhou-22 last November.
"We have accelerated the development of the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft. It was originally planned for launch in late October, but has now been moved up to late May. In the six months since last November, we have gained five months of progress. This means the pace of work has been quickened by nearly one time," He said.
He further explained that a series of measures to ensure mission success have been adopted alongside the accelerated development, adding multiple layers of assurance.
"We have continued the proven measures that have ensured success in the past, which are fundamentally based on a sound product assurance system and strict process control. We have maintained high-quality assembly operations, continued to implement efficient and high-quality automated testing procedures, adopted a specialized flight control model, and maintained a full-process quality confirmation system to ensure reliability and safety of the product," He said.
The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 23:08 Beijing time (15:08 GMT) on Sunday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
Chinese astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying will carry out the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceflight mission, and Zhu will be the commander, the China Manned Space Agency announced at a press conference on Saturday.
Chinese engineers move Shenzhou-23 manned spacecraft mission forward by 5 months while ensuring safety
