Mudslide death toll now 128

Hopes of survival of the hundreds of people buried in Monday's landslide in Shanxi province is almost zero, the country's top safety administrator said yesterday, as the death toll in the disaster rose to 128.

State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) Minister Wang Jun told China Daily that the exact number of people buried under hundreds of thousands of tons of slush and rocks was not known. But their number could be "several hundreds".

The landslide occurred when the 15-m-high bank of a liquid iron-ore waste dump burst after being filled to more than capacity, China Central Television said. The dump in Xingfen county belonged to Tashan Mine.