BEIJING — The death toll has risen to 254 in a landslide triggered by the collapse of an illegal mining dump, which engulfed a village in northern China, a government official said today.
By late Saturday, rescuers had identified 128 of the dead bodies recovered after the accident Monday in Shanxi province’s Xiangfen county, a duty officer surnamed Zhang at the Shanxi provincial government told The Associated Press.
The tally could rise to more than 1,000 as rescue workers comb through 74 acres of sludge and mining waste covering the area, where hundreds more people could be buried.
The landslide was triggered when the retaining wall of a mining dump containing tons of liquid iron-ore waste collapsed, inundating the village of 1,300 residents and an outdoor market with hundreds of patrons.
The official Xinhua News Agency cited the head of the rescue effort as saying that the team would strive to finish the search in three to five days.
