At least 6 killed, 10 missing in California mudslide

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 28, 2003

At least 6 killed, 10 missing in California mudslide

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Rescuers pulled six bodies out of deep mud and boulders on Friday and they were still searching for at least 10 others missing after mudslides hit camps in the San Bernardino Mountains in the western US state of California.

Local news reports said four bodies were found at the Saint Sophia Camp in Waterman Canyon, which was destroyed Thursday by a current of mud, rocks and trees triggered off by a heavy storm. Two other bodies, a male and a female, were found from another camp in Devore, about five miles to the west, where 32 trailers were destroyed.

At least 24 people were celebrating the holiday at the Saint Sophia Camp in Waterman Canyon, near San Bernardino, when mud and water rushed through their cabins on Christmas Day.

So far, 14 people have been rescued from the camp and some of them were pulled out of the mud and from beneath fallen trees.

In the mudslide at a Devore campground, 30 to 50 people suffered minor injuries, said county police spokeswoman Cindy Beavers.

The Pacific storm began moving into southern California on Wednesday evening, bringing Los Angeles its first rainy Christmas Day in two decades.

The storm dumped more than three inches and half of rain on areas heavily scorched by wildfires this fall, flooding streets in San Bernardino and elsewhere, causing massive mudslides and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes.

Authorities said the wildfires in October, the worst in California's history, burned up vegetation that normally would help shore up the steep terrain, leaving the ground prone to mudslides.

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