Landslide traps dozens in Tibetan gold mining area of China, rescue efforts under way

BEIJING, China – A large landslide trapped dozens of workers in a gold mining area in China’s Tibetan region on Friday, state media reported.

The landslide covered around 4 square kilometres (1.5 square miles) in the Maizhokunggar county of Lhasa, the regional capital, China Central Television said. Rescue efforts were under way.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the exact number of people trapped was unclear but that dozens of workers from a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corp. were believed to be buried. The reports said the landslide was caused by a “natural disaster” but did not provide specifics.

Doctors reached at the local county hospital said they had been told to prepare to receive survivors but none had arrived. “We were ordered to make all efforts to receive the injured,” said a doctor who gave only her surname, Ge, in the hospital’s emergency section.

Ge said the hospital transferred some of its patients to other facilities to increase the number of beds available and that 16 doctors were on duty.

County officials reached by phone confirmed the landslide but had no further details. Calls to the company’s general phone line rang unanswered.