7 people still missing, direct attack on the scene of the Wufeng Mountain landslide in Hubei: racing against time to search and rescue residents | Rescue | Wufeng Mountain in Hubei
The mountain collapsed and huge rocks and soil poured down; Life is paramount, emergency rescue is racing against time... The rescue of a landslide that occurred in Yueshan Village, Changleping Town, Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Yichang City, Hubei Province, is currently underway on the 9th. At present, the landslide has caused one death, another person is still under intense rescue efforts, and seven people are still missing.
At around 16:00 on July 8th, a landslide occurred in Yueshan Village, Changleping Town, Wufeng County, trapping 14 people. After search and rescue, 5 people were rescued on the same day.
On the 9th, the reporter saw at the landslide site that a mountain cracked and slid down from the mountaintop, cutting off the construction site of the Yilai Expressway Section 1 and Section 2 halfway up the mountain. The cement slope protection was destroyed, leaving behind a pile of huge stones and several already poured highway stakes. The mountain left obvious cracks. The mountain roads may be washed away or buried by landslides. Several excavators were hit by the landslide, either lying on their backs or buried. At the foot of the mountain in the distance, there are residential houses only a few tens of meters away from the landslide.
The landslide scene captured on July 9th. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhizun
![7 people still missing, direct attack on the scene of the Wufeng Mountain landslide in Hubei: racing against time to search and rescue residents | Rescue | Wufeng Mountain in Hubei](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/b075c787a723864c6a62771fba176f14.jpg)
After the landslide occurred, Yichang City quickly established a rescue command center, forming 9 working groups including comprehensive, on-site rescue, medical treatment, expert technology, publicity, traffic support, post disaster disposal, investigation, and logistics support. All parties rushed to the scene urgently to seize the 72 hour golden rescue period and race against time to search and rescue the missing personnel.
The reporter learned at the scene that residents near the landslide have been evacuated, and hundreds of rescue forces including disaster experts, emergency rescue, firefighting, electricity, transportation, public security, and local residents have participated in the rescue. Excavators and other construction machinery are working intensively at the landslide site.
"The first task at present is rescue, even if there is a glimmer of hope, it will require a hundred times the effort." Ye Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Yichang Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, introduced that it is estimated that the landslide mass on site will be 500000 cubic meters, and more than 500 pieces of equipment such as excavators, loaders, rescue vehicles, displacement detectors, and life detectors will be dispatched on site. Under the scientific guidance of experts, rescue work will be carried out quickly. On the morning of the 9th, two missing individuals were found at the landslide site, one of whom had no signs of life after rescue, and the other was still under intense rescue efforts. As of 17:00 on the 9th, they have not been rescued.
On July 9th, rescue personnel conducted a survey at the landslide site. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Zhizun
![7 people still missing, direct attack on the scene of the Wufeng Mountain landslide in Hubei: racing against time to search and rescue residents | Rescue | Wufeng Mountain in Hubei](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/1aabaa0a014709708fea43bd25490913.jpg)
Zhang Duanmiao, the director of the Yichang Geological Environment Monitoring Station, introduced that after the landslide occurred, relevant departments organized 15 geological experts to rush to the site overnight to carry out work, completed the orthophoto map of 0.7 square kilometers, completed the production of the three-dimensional model of the collapsed body, and formulated emergency rescue plans. At the same time, 13 relevant monitoring devices have been installed in the area affected by the collapse of the mountain, and real-time monitoring work has been carried out to support emergency rescue and disaster relief.
Zhang Duanmiao said that in the next step, the geological expert group will be stationed on site 24/7, monitoring real-time data changes 24/7, optimizing and guiding emergency rescue construction, and strictly preventing secondary disasters.