Death toll rises to 18 in SW China landslide

CHENGDU - The death toll from a landslide in Southwest China's Sichuan province has risen to 18 after six more bodies were retrieved, local authorities said.

As of 2:10 pm Thursday, rescuers had found 18 bodies from the landslide that happened on Wednesday morning in the village of Sanxi in Dujiangyan city, according to sources with the Dujiangyan municipal committee of the Communist Party of China.

Firefighters search for survivors in Sanxi village, Dujiangyan city, July 11, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

An initial investigation showed that 107 people across the city were missing or can not immediately be reached.

Local authorities are continuing to verify the exact number of those missing. Search and rescue work is underway.

The landslide, which had buried 11 homes in the region that was struck by a devastating earthquake in 2008, is believed to have been triggered by severe rainstorms since Monday evening.

The affected area of the landslide is 2 kilometers long, with about 1.5 million cubic meters of mud, rock and debris, said Qiao Jianping, a researcher with the Institute of Mountain and Environment under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.