Excavators shovel dirt and rocks brought down by the landslide on the No. 3 Freeway and load them into dump trucks Monday, as over 900 personnel work against time trying to find any one that may have been buried under the rubble.

Local reports say four people are feared to be buried under debris

In response to a freeway landslide on Sunday that may have trapped motorists, "Premier" Wu Den-yih Monday ordered more manpower and machinery to be employed for rescue missions on the No 3 Freeway between Taipei and Keelung in northern Taiwan.

"Saving lives is the current priority," he said during a visit to southern Taiwan's Pingtung County. Meanwhile, he added, the "Ministry of Transportation and Communications" and the Keelung City government have outlined transportation alternatives for commuters on the freeway.

According to local media reports Monday, three vehicles and four people are feared to be buried under the debris.

Without an obvious cause, e.g., an earthquake or human activity, a huge portion detached from a slope and slid from the eastern side of the freeway at the 3.1-kilometer mark from the northern end, just north of the Chitu toll station, burying more than 300 meters of road.

Earlier Monday, the Keelung City Fire Bureau said it had received nine phone calls for help to search for missing cars after the incident occurred. It contacted the owners of seven vehicles suspected of being buried in the landslide, but there are still two cars missing, the bureau said.

As of noon Monday, no people or vehicles had been discovered in the dirt and rocks that buried the freeway. Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau Director General Tseng Ta-jen said efforts to clear the road were proceeding faster than scheduled.

"The work is expected to be completed two weeks ahead of plans," he said, noting that it is still unclear whether people are trapped in the rubble.

According to Tseng, nearly 120 vehicles, including 45 excavators, and over 900 personnel have been mobilized for the mission.

It was estimated that 200,000 cubic meters of dirt and rocks poured onto the road in what was the worst landslide ever on a freeway in Taiwan, the "national freeway bureau" said.

Lin Chao-chung, director of the Central Geological Survey under the "Ministry of Economic Affairs", attributed the landslide to rock anchors - steel reinforcers - in restraining walls along the freeways.

Faulty construction or wear on the anchors could have led to the slide, Lin said.

An investigation into the incident has been launched. That section of the 430.5 km-long No 3 National Freeway was opened in 2000, and as part of the second north-south freeway built in Taiwan. It begins at Jijin Interchange on Provincial Highway No 2, or Jijin Road, in Keelung City and ends on Provincial Highway No. 17 in Pingtung County's Linbian. The construction began in 1987, and the first completed section was opened for traffic in 1993.

China Daily/CNA

A man shows a photograph of his daughter to local media at the site of the landslide Monday, saying he has lost contact with her since the incident happened Sunday and his daughter was thought to be traveling with her friend(s) in a car on that highway at the time of the landslide. Central News Agency

(HK Edition 04/27/2010 page4)