Flash Flood Kills 18 Chinese Highway Builders
Date: 01-Aug-06
Country: CHINA
The torrents rushed down a mountainside and swept away the workers' temporary shelters in Mengzi county, a hilly area in the southwestern province of Yunnan, in the early hours of July 20. Eight were confirmed dead at the time.
"The death toll has risen to 18 and 17 are still missing," the Beijing News quoted a local official as saying. "There is almost no chance for them to be found alive."
But the search for the workers continued as the construction of the highway resumed, the newspaper said.
The tragedy followed Tropical Storm Bilis, which hit six provinces in China's south and east, killing more than 600 there since it struck on July 14. Parts of Yunnan also suffered heavy rains.
South China is plagued by rainstorms and is hit by typhoons every summer, but this year's flood season has been particularly deadly with over 1,000 killed so far.
Typhoon Kaemi landed in China's southeastern coast last Tuesday and battered the same provinces Bilis hit. It has claimed at least 35 lives, including six killed when flash floods washed away a military barracks in Jiangxi province.
A total of 38 soldiers, officers and family members who lived in the barracks are still missing.
