BEIJING: At least 59 people were missing today when hundreds of tonnes of mud from a crumbling mountain crushed 22 buildings and triggered an explosion at a gas station in an industrial park in Shenzhen, China’s biggest manufacturing hub.
Regarded as one of China’s worst urban disasters, 14 people were pulled out of the mountain of mud that engulfed the vast area of the new industrial park in south China that borders Hong Kong.
Three people were injured in the disaster.
More than 1,500 people including firemen, police and health workers are involved in the rescue operations, searching the debris for any trapped victims.
A family of grand father and three children, the youngest nine-years-old and the oldest three years was among the 59 people missing, state-run CCTV reported.
A statement on Weibo, China’s micro-blogging site akin to Twitter, from the Shenzhen municipal government said the landslide also triggered an explosion at a nearby gas station.
A nearby section of the West-to-East natural gas pipeline exploded after the landslide struck the Hengtaiyu industrial park at around 11:40 AM which resulted in ammassing of more than 100,000 square metres of debris , state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Videos on China’s social media showed vast amounts of red mud pouring into the city with huge noise around 11 AM engulfing building after building. (AGENCIES)
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