An all-out rescue operation has been launched after a mudslide struck Gyirong Port in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Wednesday, killing three people and leaving 558 missing.
President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, ordered all-out efforts to find those missing, evacuate people at risk and treat the injured.
He also called for closer monitoring and scientifically coordinated rescue work to prevent secondary disasters.
Entrusted by Xi, Premier Li Qiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, arrived in the disaster-hit area in Gyirong Town on Thursday afternoon to direct rescue and relief efforts and visit rescuers and displaced residents.
China activated a Level II national disaster-relief emergency response after the disaster. More than 1,000 rescuers, including national fire-rescue personnel and engineering rescue teams from state-owned emergency-response and infrastructure companies China Anneng and PowerChina, have been dispatched to the site.
An initial team of 141 rescuers found the road to the port buried under mud and debris. Excavators were clearing a route, while thermal-imaging drones searched the steep river valley for signs of people missing.
"Next, we will create a three-dimensional model of the river channel and the surrounding rock formations. That will help us assess conditions at the site and guide the next phase of rescue work," said Wang Yongming, a technical commander with the Emergency Communications and Technology Division of the Xizang Fire and Rescue Corps.
The regional government has activated its highest-level natural-disaster relief response, deploying 152 rescue vehicles and 792 personnel.
The Xizang Military Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) dispatched four helicopters on Thursday to survey the disaster zone, plan rescue and evacuation routes, and search for survivors. The first two arrived at Gyirong Port at 13:00 local time.
A Y-20 transport aircraft carrying a command team from the PLA Western Theater Command Air Force also arrived in Xizang to coordinate the military's joint rescue operation. By 16:00, the PLA and the People's Armed Police Force had deployed more than 500 personnel, with drones supporting the search effort.
The road from Gyirong Town to the port remains cut off, along with telecommunications and electricity supplies.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has overseen the installation of two additional mobile base stations in the affected area, while Sichuan Province has dispatched Wing Loong emergency communications unmanned aerial vehicles to support disaster assessment and restore connectivity.
Rescuers are also monitoring a barrier lake formed by an upstream landslide blockage. Authorities estimated it held about 2 million cubic meters of water on Thursday morning and had begun to overflow. A further 3 million cubic meters of water is expected to enter the lake over the next three days, raising the risk of a breach.
China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, has allocated 100 million yuan, or about 15 million U.S. dollars, for the emergency restoration of infrastructure, while the People's Bank of China has opened expedited channels to ensure disaster-relief funds are disbursed promptly.
China mounts all-out rescue efforts for mudslide-hit Gyirong port
