200 quake aid workers buried by mud
Pastor Dale Morgan
200 quake aid workers buried by mud*
By Simon Rabinovitch in Beijing
May 19, 2008 04:54pm
Article from: Reuters
MORE than 200 relief workers in quake-hit southwestern China have been
buried by mudflows over the past three days, the Transport Ministry
reported on Monday.
Details of the accidents were not immediately available. It was unclear
whether any of those buried had been pulled out alive.
Two construction machines and six vehicles also were buried in the
mudslides in Sichuan province, Xinhua news agency said, quoting a
transport ministry official.
Xinhua said the workers were buried while repairing damaged roads, but
did not specify whether the workers were dead or alive.
A Sichuan provincial communications department employee confirmed there
had been mudslides causing some deaths, but gave no details.
"I know that at least there was a mud-rock flow in Yingxiu. The total
death toll is still being counted," he said.
Yingxiu was near the epicentre of the quake.
News of the mudflows came seven days after a 7.9 magnitude quake hit
Sichuan province, killing more than 30,000 people.
Hundreds of aftershocks have since rattled the vast mountainous region.
There have been numerous rockslides from unstable mountain slopes, and
blocked rivers swollen by heavy rain have threatened to burst their banks.
The Chinese Government has declared a three-day period of mourning for
the May 12 quake. It has estimated that the earthquake killed 50,000 people.
Associated Press reports the earthquake also killed 12.5 million farm
animals and wrecked vegetable crops and the irrigation systems needed to
grow rice.