At Least 34 Dead in China Mudslide

At least 34 have been killed and hundreds could be missing following a landslide in northern China, the official media have reported.

More than 1,100 police, firefighters and villagers were hunting for survivors after torrential rain triggered the mud and rock slide yesterday. Buildings including a mining warehouse collapsed as it swept through the area.

Senior officials have rushed to the Tashan mine in northern Shanxi province to direct rescue efforts, but rough terrain, poor communications and heavy rainfall were hampering work, said rescue chief Ding Wenlu, according to the official state news agency Xinhua.

Thirty-five people were injured and state radio said in a report on its website that "several hundred" were missing, while Xinhua said it was as yet unclear how many could not be traced.

"The mud-rock flow also destroyed a three-story office building, a market and some villagers' houses in the valley," Xinhua said. "Witnesses said the flow roared down the valley and washed away the market and the houses in a few minutes."

But it said that rescuers reported difficulty in identifying the victims as most of the mine workers were migrants from other parts of Shanxi, Chongqing and central Hubei province.

Police have detained the mine owner and eight others, Xinhua reported. Wang Hui, the deputy head of Xiangfen county's news center, told the Associated Press that he could not confirm details of the disaster because security forces had sealed off the site.

The area, in Xiangfen county of Linfen city, lies at the heart of China's coal industry. Linfen, until recently the country's most polluted city, is home to more than 400 mines and has seen numerous fatal incidents. China's mining industry is the world's deadliest, killing nearly 3,800 people last year - 10 a day - although most were miners who died inunderground blasts or flooding.

Prior to a safety drive the total stood even higher, at almost 6,000 in 2005.

Seventeen officials from Linfen's Xinyao coal mine were jailed this year for their involvement in a gas blast which killed 105 miners last December - the country's second deadliest mining disaster. The city's mayor also lost his job.

Earlier last year a fatal gas explosion took 28 lives at another mine in Linfen that had been ordered to close for safety breaches and illegal operation.