Man saved after three days spent buried alive after China's landslide

Waste mudslide covers buildings in China’s latest industrial disaster

A man was pulled out alive from rubble in a southern Chinese city yesterday, more than 60 hours after a waste heap collapsed and buried dozens of buildings in mud and construction debris, state media said.

Tian Zeming, who was found at 3.30am local time was in a coherent state, but his legs had been crushed in Sunday’s landslide at an industrial park in Shenzhen, a boomtown near Hong Kong.

“He told the soldiers who rescued him, ‘there is another survivor close by’,” state news agency Xinhua said, although it later reported rescuers had found another body rather than a survivor.

That took the confirmed death toll to two.

The government had said more than 70 people were missing, but that figure continues to be revised down.

Tian has had surgery and is in a stable condition in hospital, though he may lose a foot.

With growing worries about China’s industrial safety standards and lack of oversight, Premier Li Keqiang ordered an investigation within hours of the mudslide.

VIDEO: Rescuers in China dig out survivor buried in massive landslide for 60 hours: https://t.co/Kct7yfBoB7

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 23, 2015

As authorities conduct rescue operations and investigate the disaster, work has sharply slowed in factories around the site.

Wang Yiwen, 49, who runs a factory near the dump, said he was losing 10,000 yuan (about €1,500) a day.

“We cannot go out now. We cannot transfer the goods in and out (of this area),” said Wang.

“There is no guarantee for our lives. So many workers have to eat. There is no power supply now.”

On Tuesday, police raided offices of the company that was managing the dump site, Shenzhen Yixianglong Investment Development.

Chinese news portals said police had taken away a deputy general manager named Yu Shengli.

Xinhua said the dump was being used 10 months after it was supposed to have stopped taking waste, earning Yixianglong some 7.5 million yuan (€1.05m) in fees.

While no waste was being brought to the Hengtaiyu industrial park, dumping has also stopped at another controversial site in Shenzhen, in the district of Bujiuwo, which opened in 2008 and was due to close three years later.

Its use was extended in 2013 despite strong opposition from residents and even some local politicians, according to Chinese newspapers.

Shenzhen media has warned that the city was running out of space to store construction waste, especially as the city works on an ambitious subway construction scheme.