Tibet landslide leaves 21 dead, 62 missing: media

BEIJING - Agence France-Presse

In this photo taken Saturday, March 30, 2013, rescuers search through rocks and debris at a gold mine after a mudslide in Gyama village, in Maizhokunggar County of Lhasa, Tibet. AP photo

Rescuers have recovered 21 bodies three days after a massive landslide in Tibet buried more than 80 mine workers, China National Radio reported on Monday.

Another 62 miners remain missing under two million cubic metres of earth east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, with about 3,500 emergency workers battling snow and altitude sickness to search for them.
 
Some searchers dug with their bare hands to avoid damaging bodies or because the disaster had blocked roads needed to deliver large-scale rescue equipment, reports said.
 
Two of the bodies were found on Saturday and the rest on Sunday, and the search will continue "as long as there was a one percent chance" of recovering bodies, the radio quoted a rescue worker as saying.
 
Experts from the ministry of land and resources have arrived in the area to investigate the cause of the landslide.
 
Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to such occurrences, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity, and the risk of additional landslides has heightened concerns about safety.
 
In recent years China has discovered huge mineral resources in Tibet, including tens of millions of tonnes of copper, lead and zinc, and billions of tonnes of iron ore.