Eight people lost their lives in a landslide in Yunnan province, China, with 47 others still unaccounted for. Rescue efforts are ongoing amidst challenging snowy and freezing conditions.
China Central Television (CCTV), a state-run broadcaster, has reported that approximately 47 individuals from 18 families are missing. Two casualties were discovered on Monday afternoon.
The landslide struck early on Monday morning, around 5:51 a.m. local time (2151 GMT), impacting two villages in Zhaotong, a city in the southwest. The disaster buried homes at the base of a hill under a mass of earth.
A witness, identified only by his surname Gu, recounted to a state-owned TV channel in Guizhou province that a large section of the mountain gave way, resulting in numerous people being trapped.
Gu, who lost four relatives in the incident, mentioned that the victims were asleep in their houses at the time of the landslide.
Firefighting teams are navigating through the debris in light snowfall to find survivors, as per CCTV’s reports. The cause of the landslide remains unknown.