One person was killed, one injured and two others were missing
after a landslide in central China's Hubei Province on Tuesday morning, local
government officials said.
The landslide occurred at about 8:40 a.m. at the entrance of a
railway tunnel in Badong county, Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous
Prefecture in southwest Hubei, hitting four workers who were
working on scaffolds washing and painting the walls.
One of the workers was killed and one was in "stable condition"
with injuries, while two others were missing.
Liu Haiyan, deputy secretary of the prefectural government, said
that the government had sent police to divert traffic to a nearby
road.
Rescuers were still going through the debris in a search of the
two missing workers.
The four workers were all local people who were engaged in
constructing a 377-km railway linking Yichang in Hubei and Wanzhou
in neighboring Chongqing Municipality. The project is expected to
be completed by the end of 2009.
The railway, with 114 tunnels and 183 bridges planned along its
course, is one of the most intricate rail projects in China.
On Aug. 9, three workers were killed and seven went missing in a
flood at the 14-km Yesanguan tunnel, the longest on the
railway.
Landslides are also common in Badong county, which is sited on
brittle terrain along the Yangtze River. In June, flood debris
killed at least one farmer, left seven others missing, and forced
about 1,000 villagers to evacuate.
The cause of the latest landslide is unknown but, according to
local residents, the region has been soaked by rain in the past
couple of days.
Wang Jianmin, vice governor of the Enshi Tujia and Miao
Autonomous Prefecture, is heading a rescue team traveling to the
site of the accident.
(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2007)