Death toll rises to 16 in landslides in southeastern China

Rescuers conduct a rescue operation at the site of a mudslide following days of heavy rain from tropical cyclone Saudel in Suichuan County of Ji’an City, east China’s Jiangxi Province [Photo: Xinhua]

Searchers in southeastern China have found another body from rain-triggered landslides last weekend in Jiangxi province, raising the death toll to 16, state media said Thursday.

The deaths were spread across three towns in Suichuan county, where heavy rain drenched the area for days after Typhoon Saudel came ashore on China’s east coast.

A mudslide in Gaoping town killed 13 people, state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report. Two others were found dead in Zuo’an town, and one other in Tanghu town.

More than 18,000 people have been evacuated in Suichuan County, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Two more people were killed in neighboring Hunan province following rains brought by the typhoon, state media reported earlier. The CCTV report didn’t specify the cause of the deaths but said the rain had triggered landslides and other disasters.

Saudel made landfall twice in Zhejiang province on Aug. 28 and a third time as a tropical storm in Fujian province on Sept. 3. Jiangxi and Hunan lie inland from the coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian.