8 o’clock Thursday morning and a devastating landslide hits the village of Zhenhe, in Yiliang county. More than 60 military personnel rushed to the scene, searching for signs of life. And as more and more rescuers joined them, a race against time began.
Liu Zhaowen, Political Commissar of Zhaotong City Fire Prevention Crew, said, "First we moved a large amount of dirt and stones using an excavator. Then we divided our crews into several groups to clear the mud with small tools. Now we’re focusing on this area, where we found the bodies of three students. That’s one of the school gates. Some of the children were caught there trying to escape the landslide"
Access to the landslide site was already difficult. It was made worse by heavy rainfall. As the clock reached midnight, soldiers had found the bodies of 17 children. But there were 2 more people still to find. The city's mayor said the rescue would go on.
"As long as there is hope, we will never give up. We will do our best to find these two people."
The Mayor says the children attended Shangba Primary School, in Longhai Township. It had been destroyed by an earthquake in September. 37 of the school's 115 students had been relocated to Tiantou Primary School, to make up for lessons missed after the quake.
1:40 am on Friday, another child's body is found. No time to grieve, the rescue team continues their search for the last missing person. Meanwhile, medics, specialist equipment operators and villagers stay on site, ready to offer help... in the hope of one remaining miracle. The search is continuing on Friday.
Meanwhile, the local government says it's drawn up an initial compensation plan for victims, and launched an investigation into the accident.
Friday 5 October 2012
http://www.china.org.cn/video/2012-10/06/content_26711368.htm
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