By Ben Blanchard
XIANGFEN, China (Reuters) - More than 50 people were killedand hundreds more may be missing in north China after areservoir of mining waste collapsed, burying cars and homesunder a wall of sludge.
Torrential rain triggered Monday's avalanche of mud androcks after the holding pond at the Tashan mine in Shanxiprovince was apparently filled beyond capacity, state mediasaid.
The torrent was several metres high and destroyed housesand a three story office building in minutes, witnesses toldthe official Xinhua agency. It said on Tuesday the death tollhad risen to 56, with another 35 injured.
State radio said in a report on its website that "severalhundred" were missing, though it did not provide details.Xinhua said the number of missing had yet to be determined.
Heavy downpours in Xiangfen county on Tuesday hamperedrescue efforts by more than 1,100 police, firefighters andvillagers who were hunting for survivors.
"We're busy trying to rescue people but it's very hard workwith all the mud and rocks," said Hu Yanzai, Communist Partysecretary of Chongshi, which is next to the villages that werewiped out.
"It's hard to estimate how many died. It's all mud and wedon't know how many escaped," Hu told Reuters by telephone."I'd estimate at least 100 (dead). It's a big area ... I don'tknow what to feel. I feel numb."
Many victims are thought to have been migrant mine workers.Without their families nearby, it could be harder to identifythe dead or even pin down exactly how many are missing.
Officials rushed to direct rescue efforts and find thecause of the disaster. The area has several other ore mines.
"Our preliminary investigation found that this accident wascaused by illegal enterprises who discharged waste sand into amine tailings dam," said deputy work safety chief, Wang Dexue.
"When the dam reached its capacity, it burst. Heavy rainaccelerated the process," he told state television.
DETENTIONS, ANGER
The mine owner and eight others had been held, Xinhua said,and several officials sacked for failing to prevent thedisaster.
Pictures showed overturned vehicles covered in a stickysludge and parts of houses buried under several metres of darkmud. Rescuers clambered over the scene looking for survivors,some using excavators, others their hands.
On an Internet chatroom hosted by popular portal Baidu(http://www.baidu.com) for residents of Linfen, near where theaccident happened, one user said word from the mudslide sitewas that "the situation was much worse than imagined".
Another said: "The black-hearted mine bosses make theirfortune and leave, and leave behind a deadly mess."
China's mining industry is the world's deadliest, killingnearly 3,800 people last year, as high demand for raw materialsfrom a booming economy pushes managers to cut safety corners.
Most victims are coal miners. Because iron ore mines aregenerally open pits, they are less likely than coal mines tocollapse and kill miners trapped inside, and so have notattracted as much regulatory attention.
But newspapers reported in April that Shanxi had launched athree-year campaign to lower hazards from mines and tailings.Officials said 676 villages were threatened by subsidence,building damage and other geological hazards.
Strong iron ore prices and China's desire to limit importshave allowed miners to dig up even very low-grade deposits,often with little regard for safety or environmental measures.
(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley, Lucy Hornby, Yu Leand Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
