Rescue efforts have saved 15 people.
By Fan Yiying
Twenty-six people have been confirmed missing after a landslide hit a village near Lishui City in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday morning.
The landslide in Su Village occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. According to the Zhejiang provincial government, heavy rains caused by Typhoon Megi triggered the disaster.
Observers’ videos show the side of a hill sliding down onto Su Village below. Twenty houses were reportedly covered.
Rescue efforts are underway, and 15 people have been saved, among them a pregnant woman. Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday urged rescue workers to save those still missing, and called for better monitoring and early warning systems. One of the missing people is a local official involved in the rescue operation.
Typhoon Megi reached the Chinese mainland shortly after noon on Wednesday, after battering Taiwan earlier in the week. Weather forecasts predicted heavy showers would continue in the affected area on Thursday.
Last November a landslide hit another village near Lishui, killing 38 people. On Monday evening, five people died when a landslide destroyed a road near Kunming, capital of Yunnan province in southwest China.
(Header image: A rescue team searches along the banks of a river diverted by a landslide in Lishui, Zhejiang province, Sept. 29, 2016. VCG)
