Mudslide toll jumps to 128
2008-09-10 20:06
Beijing - The death toll from an industrial mudslide that swept through a town in northern China has more than doubled to 128, state television said on Wednesday.
"One hundred and twenty-eight bodies have been found and 35 people have been injured," the state-run CCTV network said in its nightly news broadcast.
The government had earlier put the death toll at 56 in the disaster, which occurred when a torrent of mining waste and sludge engulfed the small town of Taoshi in Shanxi province.
However, a local resident said the toll could be far higher, with some sections of China's state-run press echoing those concerns.
China's work safety administration has blamed an illegal mine operating on a mountain above the town for the disaster. Police have detained nine of its employees, including the company boss.
The administration said the mine had kept a tailing pond full of ore dregs, which burst its banks amid heavy rain and sent sludge cascading down into Taoshi.
The river of mud swallowed up an area of the town several hundred metres wide and several kilometres long.
The government has said rescue work was stepped up Wednesday in a bid to find more survivors.