Door Panel Saved Man Buried in Landslide for 60 Hours

He had been trying to get out of his room when the building collapsed
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 23, 2015 3:00 AM CST
Man Saved 60 Hours After Landslide Buries Building
Rescuers stand near damaged buildings as they search for potential survivors following a landslide at an industrial park in Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong province, on Tuesday.   (Andy Wong)

A migrant worker was pulled out alive Wednesday after he was buried for more than 60 hours in a massive landslide that swept through part of a major manufacturing city in southern China. A spokesman for the Shenzhen Emergency Response Office said that the man, Tian Zeming, was rescued around dawn on Wednesday. "The survivor had a very feeble voice and pulse when he was found alive buried under debris, and now he's undergoing further checks," a doctor told a news conference in Shenzhen, according to a transcript posted by the district government that covers the area.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that Tian later underwent surgery for a broken hand and on his foot, which had been wedged against a door panel. It said he had been trying to get out of his room when the building collapsed, and the door panel created a space for him to survive. More than 70 people are still missing from the landslide that happened Sunday when a mountain of construction waste material and mud collapsed and flowed into an industrial park in Shenzhen. The Ministry of Land and Resources has said a steep man-made mountain of dirt, cement chunks, and other construction waste had been piled up against a hill over the past two years. State media reported that the local government identified problems with the mountain of soil months earlier and warned of a "catastrophe." (More Shenzhen stories.)

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