Society

Passage dug through landslide on highway to quake zone

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-31 14:19

CHENGDU - A passage has been dug through earth deposited from a landslide on a national highway to southwest China's Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the magnitude-8 Sichuan earthquake in 2008, but the road remained closed, said local authorities.

A bird’s view of the site of landslide. [Photo/Xinhua]

Related readings:  Highway to Wenchuan blocked after landslide

The four-meter-wide single-lane passage, completed around 8 p.m. Sunday, has not opened to traffic because of concerns about the stability of the mountain, Wang Yongxin, head of Wenchuan County Highway Bureau, said Monday.

More than 2,000 vehicles are stranded in Wenchuan unable to leave the county, said Zhao Mingyong, a traffic police officer with the county's public security bureau.

The landslide happened at about 10 a.m. Saturday in Suoqiao Village. More than 10,000 cubic meters of rocks and mud blocked the No. 213 National Highway, a vital lifeline for the reconstruction of Wenchuan, said Li Jie, an official with the county's information office.

The national highway was suspended on May 12, 2008 due to the earthquake and on July 25, 2009 due to a rockfall.