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3rd LD: Reinforcements join Shenzhen landslide rescue

Xinhua, December 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Seventy-eight excavators and 1,200 rescuers have been added to the operation searching for the 91 people missing after Sunday's landslide in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

There are now 2,906 rescuers, including some 8,00 members of the armed forces, digging through silt and rubble at the Hengtaiyu industrial park. The excavators, which arrived at the site on Monday morning, are the first to be involved in the operation.

Fifty-nine males and 32 females remained missing as of Monday morning after the disaster, caused by the collapse of a huge pile of construction waste.

At least 16 people were hospitalized, including children.

They are in a stable condition, and ten senior doctors from Guangzhou and Beijing, mostly orthopedists, neurosurgeons and trauma doctors, are in Shenzhen to help treat the injured, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

A medical station with 16 staff has also been set up near the landslide site, a doctor from Guangming New District Central Hospital told Xinhua.

The landslide covered 380,000 square meters in silt 10 meters deep, said Liu Qingsheng, deputy mayor of Shenzhen.

The 33 buildings buried include 14 factory buildings, two office buildings, one canteen, three dormitories and 13 low-rise buildings.

There are unlikely to be further landslides, said a team of 200 geology and gas experts involved in the rescue.

A nearby section of China's major West-to-East natural gas pipeline exploded as the landslide hit. Its owner, PetroChina, said it had emptied the 400-meter-long ruptured pipe and is building a temporary replacement.

Two checkpoints have been established to register and verify information on the missing people

The 1,500 people evacuated after the landslide are staying in temporary settlements at a nearby sports center, community workstation and hospital.

"We are providing food and drinks, mattresses and quilts to meet people's basic needs," said Chen Jun, a volunteer at Guangming District Sports Center. Endi