Landslide kills dozens, Xi orders all-out rescue

KUNMING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a landslide that hit a mountainous region in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday has risen to 43 after more bodies were retrieved. Three are missing.

Chinese leaders Xi Jinping, Wen Jiabao and Li Keqiang have ordered all-out efforts to rescue victims of the landslide in order to minimize casualties from the disaster.

Xi, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said efforts must be made to resettle affected residents, prevent secondary disasters and successfully complete relief work and reconstruction so as to ensure stability.

Xi also asked agencies involved in disaster relief to offer proper psychological treatment to affected residents and maintain public order.

The State Council, or China's Cabinet, has sent a work group comprised of leaders from various government departments, including the land and resources, civil affairs, finance, transport and health ministries, to the landslide-hit zone to direct relief work.

The work group, headed by Xu Shaoshi, minister of land and resources, will focus on solving practical problems on site.

The landslide hit the Zhaojiagou area of Gaopo Village, Zhenxiong County around 8:20 a.m. Friday. Zhenxiong is some 550 km northeast of Yunnan provincial capital Kunming.

Forty-six residents -- 27 adults and 19 children -- were buried in the landslide, according to the local civil affairs bureau. The Zhaojiagou area had a total of 73 households with a population of 468.

Two other injured people have been sent to a nearby hospital, and it has been confirmed that their injuries are not life-threatening.