More than 80 buried in Tibet mine landslip

March 30, 2013 10:46 am | Updated October 18, 2016 01:11 pm IST - BEIJING

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, earthmovers remove rocks and mud on the scene where a landslide hit a mining area in Maizhokunggar County of Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on March 29, 2013.

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, earthmovers remove rocks and mud on the scene where a landslide hit a mining area in Maizhokunggar County of Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on March 29, 2013.

More than 80 miners remained trapped under rock and debris after a massive landslip on Friday struck a major mining area near Lhasa in Tibet.

Hopes for rescuing the workers have faded, state media reported, as rescuers had found only one body after more than 36 hours and snowfall on Saturday impeded recovery efforts.

A total of 83 miners, of whom two were Tibetans and the rest reported to be Han Chinese were buried by the landslip.

The site is in Maizhokunggar, a county east of Lhasa where a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corporation runs a polymetal gold and copper mine.

More than 3,000 “troops, armed police and militia member” had been dispatched to the site, the official Xinhua news agency said, with President Xi Jinping ordering “top efforts” to “rescue the buried and prevent secondary disasters”.

A large number of Chinese mining companies have set up subsidiaries to tap the vast mineral resources of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and concerns have been raised about the environmental impact of increased mining on the plateau’s ecosystem.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.