Rescuers carry a body of victim at the landslide site in Taining County, southeast China's Fujian Province, May 9, 2016. Thirty-one bodies have been found and 7 people remain missing after a landslide hit Taining County in Fujian. (Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)
The death toll has risen to 34 with four people still missing after a landslide in Taining County in east China's Fujian Province on Sunday, local authorities said Monday night.
Three other people previously reported missing have been found, authorities said at a press conference on Monday night, bringing the combined number of people dead and missing down to 38.
Strong rainfall that continued from last week is complicating rescue work. Cloudy weather has also forced the airport at the provincial capital of Fuzhou to cancel or delay a large number of flights since Monday afternoon.
Search is still going on for the four missing. Medical teams and ambulance have been on standby at the site should anyone be found in the debris.
Roads to landslide site disrupted by cave-ins on Sunday had been cleared as of Monday afternoon, local authorities said.
Workers are still clearing small batches of stones from mountains to ensure smooth and safe traffic on these roads.
The landslide occurred at about 5 a.m. on Sunday, when about 100,000 cubic meters of mud and rocks flowed downhill, burying a temporary shed at a hydropower station construction site and damaging offices.
"I tried to run out of the room when I heard people shouting for help. But the door could not be opened so I jumped through the window," recalled Li Dajiang, a worker at the construction site and among the 14 survivors.
Li saved another two workers from a collapsed house and has been searching with rescuers.
