Ten small-scale landslides have hit a landslide site in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality from Friday, and rescuers continued to search for 64 missing for the 10th day on Tuesday.

The rescue headquarters said Tuesday that no casualties had been reported during the rescue. There were 3,000 rescuers aided by heavy machinery, drilling holes and clearing rubble in a search for the missing.

A geologist with the rescue headquarters, who declined to be identified, said on Sunday that cracks with a span of eight to ten meters and up to 30 meters deep have appeared on the landslide-hit hills. He said under the threat of secondary disasters, the search for the missing may be suspended.

The rescue headquarters said rescuers have basically brought the risk of a barrier lake under control on Tuesday, when the level of the water dropped 10 meters below the top of a temporary embankment, thanks to drainage work.


Heavy machinery works at the landslide site in Wulong County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, June 15, 2009. The rescue headquarters said that seven potential geological disaster spots were located that may not only affect the rescue work but also threat the lives of over 3,000 rescuers at the landslide site.(Xinhua/Xu Xuzhong)
"If there is no rain in the next three days, the drainage work would be more effective in preventing the lake's flood risk," said Zhu Xiansheng, head of the water conservancy bureau of Chongqing.

The landslide site has entered the flood season, and landslide-induced lakes are likely to trigger mud-rock flows, he said.

Rescuers have found 10 bodies in the 10-day search. The number of estimated missing people in the landslide was reported as 64 by the headquarters.

Rescuers refused to estimate the survival chances of the missing. Bo Xilai, secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, has ordered rescuers to make their utmost efforts to save lives and retrieve the bodies.

Rescuers have estimated there were greater survival chances for 27 miners believed to be trapped in an iron ore mine in the mountain.

Rescuers have not yet found the mine entrance, which was buried deep under landslide rubble.

Source:Xinhua