Landslide buries primary school

AT least 10 primary school students have been confirmed dead after a landslide hit a village yesterday in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said.

As of late last night, another nine people were still missing. Rescuers said there was a slim chance that the nine would survive, according to China Central Television. The disaster occurred at around 8am in the village of Zhenhe, Yiliang County, the county government said.

Classes at the school were to begin at 9am. The students who were buried had arrived at the school early, Liu Lehua, a local education official, said.

The landslide, estimated at 160,000 cubic meters, engulfed 19 people, including 18 students at a Tiantou Primary School building, the government said. Six residences near the school were hit, with three houses buried.

Yiliang was struck by multiple earthquakes at magnitude 5.7 and 5.6 on September 7, which left 81 people dead and 800 injured.

As the landslide occurred, the students were making up for classes delayed after the earthquakes, said Liu. Chinese people are taking eight days off for the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays.

The schools didn't resume classes until September 25, Yiliang's education chief Li Zhong told China News Service.

The landslide blocked a nearby river, forming a lake 15 meters wide and 7 meters deep. More than 800 residents living downstream were moved to safer places and nearly 2,000 people were sent to destroy the lake and aid in rescue work.

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