Landslide buries primary school in SW China, killing 18 children

USPA News - Eighteen children were killed Thursday when a landslide buried their primary school in a remote and mountainous region of southwestern China, local authorities confirmed on Friday. Another person who was in a nearby building remains missing.

The incident happened at around 8:10 a.m. local time on Thursday when a large landslide, estimated to be roughly 160,000 cubic meters in size, buried the Tiantou Primary School building in Zhenhe, a village located in Yiliang County of Zhaotong City in southwest China`s Yunnan Province. Yiliang County officials said on late Thursday that all eighteen children were confirmed to have been killed while one person, who was in a nearby building, remains missing. Another villager was seriously injured and is receiving treatment at a temporary medical station in the area. Although the rest of China is currently on a week-long national holiday, the children at the primary school were preparing for classes which were due to start at 9 a.m. local time. The classes had been arranged so students could make up for classes missed due to two moderate earthquakes which struck the region last month, killing 81 people and injuring 820 others. Thursday`s landslide also blocked a nearby river and caused a barrier lake, forcing more than 800 locals living downstream to be evacuated as a precaution. In addition to the primary school, three houses were also buried while three other houses were seriously damaged.