Toll from landslide in southwestern China rises to 11 dead, with 50 people still missing

Beijing (AP) — Teams searching the rubble of last week’s landslide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing found three additional bodies in recent days, bringing the death toll to 11 with 50 people still missing, Chinese authorities said Thursday.

The search continues but there have been no recent signs of life after many efforts to detect additional survivors from Friday’s collapse in Pengshui County at the edge of the city, the county government said in a statement.

Responders found eight bodies soon after the collapse, which buried more than 10 residential buildings, and 10 people were injured.

The rescue work has been “exceptionally challenging” due to the massive volume of collapsed material that includes many large boulders. Searchers have used heavy machinery and drones, and teams have blasted some of the boulders into small pieces as part of the rescue work, according to the county government.

Pengshui County is in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.