‘No survivors found after Tibet landslide’

Chinese authorities say no survivors have been found more than a day following a landslide that buried over 80 workers in a mining area of Tibet.

“Rescuers have not yet found survivors or bodies,” Xinhua news agency quoted the authorities as saying on Saturday.

On Friday, a vast three-kilometer-long section of land, with a volume of two million cubic meters, came crashing down a mountainside, engulfing the workers’ camp in Maizhokunggar County, east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

The workers, who were employed by Tibet Huatailong Mining Development Co Ltd, were resting in the camp when the disaster struck, according to the reports.

More than 1,000 police, firefighters, soldiers, and medics have been sent to the disaster site, at an elevation of more than 15,000 feet (4,600 meters) where temperatures drop below freezing at nights at this time of the year.

Reports say the harsh environment and low oxygen were hindering the search operation.

“The oxygen content is very low, and the terrain is very difficult, but the rescue forces are arriving at the scene in a steady stream,” the report said.

“Much of the rescue relies on machines digging through the soil given the weight of the landslide,” another report said.

Mining in China has been rated one of the most dangerous industries in the world due to poor safety standards.

The Chinese government has shut down hundreds of mines in 2012 as part of efforts to improve safety standards.