A screencap showing the site of a landslide at Fude Village in Du'an Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Feb. 8, 2016. (Photo : Twitter)
The death toll from a landslide that buried an entire building in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have risen to six, as the four missing were confirmed dead, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
Emergency services in Du'an Yao Autonomous County under Hechi City were informed at 3:25 a.m. on Monday, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, that a two-story apartment in Fude Village collapsed in a landslide.
There were 15 households living at the site, including whom local media reports tagged as the owner of the collapsed building, Lan Huajing.
As of Monday afternoon, rescuers have recovered at least six bodies from the rubble including Lan Huajing.
Witnesses told Xinhua that they heard a loud noise, which they mistook as fireworks at first, before the landslide occurred.
"But then I felt the house was shaking," Lan Min, a nearby resident, said in an interview with Xinhua. "I thought it was an earthquake and told my family to rush out."
When they stopped running, Lang said he looked back and saw Lan Huajing's house completely destroyed, with a wall of their own house damaged by the stones.
Local authorities are investigating the cause of the landslide and have ordered a thorough inspection for any hidden safety hazards.
China has had a record of deadly landslides in recent years.
In December the previous year, a landslide caused by a collapsing garbage pile left 69 people dead and eight missing in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. Authorities identified the cause of the landslide as a lapse in work safety and arrested 11 people in connection with the incident.
In Aug. 2010, a mudslide caused by heavy rainfall and flooding left at least 1,287 people dead and 294 missing in Gansu Province in central China.
