A major landslide hit a mining area in Tibet autonomous region on Friday morning, burying 83 workers, local authorities said.
The landslide happened at about 6 am in Maizhokunggar county of Lhasa, the regional capital. The victims were workers from Tibet Huatailong Mining Development Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corporation.
The affected area of the landslide is 3 kilometers long, with about 2 million cubic meters of mud, rock and debris, a Xinhua reporter said from the disaster site. More than 1,000 rescuers, including police, firefighters and medical personnel, are working at the site, which is at an altitude of 4,600 meters.
Villagers living nearby told Xinhua that the landslide struck suddenly, bringing massive rocks down to smash the workers' camp area in early morning. A mass of rolling rock from the mountaintop sliced a big excavator in two parts, a witness told Xinhua.
Two of the buried workers are local Tibetans and others were recruited mainly from neighboring provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.
Five excavators, five pick-up trucks and an SUV were also buried in the debris, said Zou Yuming, deputy head of the Maizhokunggar county government.
About 200 large vehicles and equipment, 15 sniffer dogs and 15 life-detector machines are being used in the rescue. The rescue will be very difficult due to the size of the affected area, said an official from the regional fire department.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on Friday ordered top efforts to rescue the buried workers. They have told local authorities to spare no efforts to rescue the buried and prevent secondary disasters.
A work team led by officials from the State Administration of Work Safety, Ministry of Land and Resources and State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is rushing to the accident site to guide rescue efforts.
