Gov't apologizes for cremating victims of landslide (3)

NATURAL OR MAN-MADE?

Many netizens and families of the victims do not accept the government's explanation that the landslide was triggered by continuous rain and snow.

Some villagers believe the landslide may have been triggered by a gas explosion, and they doubt the experts' conclusion that the coal mine boundary was 500 meters away from the landslide.

"The mining area is right beneath the landslide," a coal miner in Gaopo said, as quoted by media on Monday.

Witnesses told Xinhua they saw "earth and rocks sprayed up into the air" when the landslide occurred. At the same time, some other villagers said they had not been to the scene and only heard about the "explosion" from others.

Lei Chuying, deputy head of Zhenxiong County government, used several points to deny that there had been an explosion, including the point that no coal fragments were found in the sprayed earth.

Many villagers said they could not understand the official explanation and requested more investigation and more easy-to-understand explanations.

"This year saw little rain and snow. Why hasn't there been a landslide in other years?" asked Zhao Mingcai, who lost nine family members in the landslide.

Wang Shijun, another person who lost family in the landslide, said a big crack appeared before the landslide. "Big enough to swallow a bull."

However, some villagers said the crack was 1 meter wide and some said a half meter wide, while others said there was no crack.

No geological disasters have happened in the history of this area, Liu Jianhua, mayor of Zhaotong City that administers Zhenxiong, told Xinhua.

No hidden dangers had been discovered in previous troubleshooting tasks, and no signs had appeared prior to the disaster, Liu said.