More Chinese overseas diplomatic missions mourn mudslide victims

Memorial services were held in Chinese embassies and consulates around the world on Sunday to mourn the victims of a massive mudslide which claimed the lives of at least 1,239 people in China's northwestern Gansu province.

At the Chinese embassy in Copenhagen, the Chinese national flag was flown at half-mast, and embassy staff and those from local representative offices of Chinese firms attended a mourning ceremony.

They paid a silent tribute to the mudslide victims killed in the Aug. 8 downpour-triggered disaster in Zhouqu county, Gansu province, which devastated local houses and infrastructure.

In Brussels, Chinese diplomats at China's mission to the European Union observed three minutes' silence for the dead.

At the Chinese embassy in Syria, embassy staff and Chinese journalists stood in silence at a memorial meeting to remember the victims.

Similar ceremonies also took place at China's embassies in Britain, Belgium, Mozambique, Tunisia, Greece, Portugal, Israel, Egypt, South Korea, Vietnam, Angola, Kenya, Algeria, Tanzania, Canada, Cote d'lvoire, Niger, Guinea, Morocco, Argentina and Norway.

China's diplomatic mission to the United Nations and its consulate-general in Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk also held mourning ceremonies.

China is observing a day of national mourning on Sunday, with national flags flying at half mast and all public entertainment activities suspended.

China has suffered the worst flooding in a decade this summer. Floods and other rain-induced disasters have so far left more than 2,300 people dead and 1,200 missing nationwide this year.

Source: Xinhua