Society

Mountain collapse kills 23, injures 7 in SW China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-15 20:36

An excavator works at the rescue site after a mountain collapse Tuesday morning in Kangding County, southwest China's Sichuan Province.[Xinhua]

CHENGDU - Twenty-three workers were killed and another seven wounded in a mountain collapse Tuesday morning in southwest China's Sichuan Province, local authorities said.

The collapse occurred at around 1:25 am, crushing work sheds at a hydroelectric project construction site in Pengta Town, Kangding County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, according to the prefecture's public emergency command center.

Preliminary investigation showed the collapse was triggered by heavy rainfalls that had previously pelted the region.

The rescue operations ended after all the 34 workers in the sheds were founded.

Four workers managed to escape unharmed when the mountain collapsed, another seven were injured, among whom three were severely wounded.

The collapsed part of the mountain reached 40,000 cubic meters, temporally blocking a river which unclogged by itself two hours later.