1 week ago
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SINGAPORE – A week after a catastrophic mudslide wiped out Gyirong Port on China’s border with Nepal, search and rescue operations there have kicked into higher gear even as survival chances grow dimmer.
Following round-the-clock work involving nearly 700 personnel and more than 300 pieces of machinery, road access to the hardest-hit area around the Gyirong border gate was restored in the late morning of Sept 2, clearing the way for emergency supplies and additional rescue workers to be sent in.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that heavy equipment have now entered the core disaster zone in the Tibet Autonomous Region in south-western China, clearing large boulders and waist-deep mud as crews continue probing the ruins for any trace of life.
For those already on the front line, like Phuntsok Drakpa, that search has meant calling out into deafening silence and looking out for any clue, no matter how small – be it a shoe or a piece of clothing.
“There was nothing we could do except call out and look under the rocks,” the police officer said in an interview with China Daily.
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