China landslide toll rises to 128: reports

Rescuers used heavy equipment to search yesterday for survivors buried under a torrent of sludge, mud and mining waste that plowed into buildings in northern China, killing at least 128 people, state media reported.
The landslide in Shanxi province on Monday also injured 35 people five seriously, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the local rescue headquarters.
A preliminary investigation showed that a dam collapse at a mine in Xiangfen county caused the landslide, a top safety official said.
The accident underscores two major public safety concerns in China: the failure to enforce protective measures in the country's notoriously deadly mines, and the unsound state of much of its aging infrastructure.
Xinhua said more than 1,500 police, firefighters and villagers were searching for survivors.
Xinhua cited local government official Lian Zhendong as saying rescuers had searched through 70 percent of the rubble. The People's Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, said on its Web site that the missing could number in the hundreds.The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement that the death toll could exceed 500 people. It did not attribute the figure to anyone.
The landslide knocked down a mine warehouse, trapping an unknown number of people inside, Xinhua said. A three-story office building, a market and some houses were also destroyed, the report said.
The preliminary investigation showed the landslide was caused by the collapse of a dam used to enclose tailings from an iron mine, said Wang Dexue, deputy head of the State Administration of Work Safety.
"The amount stored far exceeded the capacity of the space. In addition, there was a bit of rain and the collapse took place as a result," Wang said in an interview broadcast on state TV.