GYIRONG, Xizang, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Search and rescue efforts intensified on Friday at the mudslide-stricken border port of Gyirong in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, as rescue personnel raced against time to save lives.
At 5 p.m. on Friday, an advance group from the China Search and Rescue team, comprising rescuers from the Sichuan provincial fire and rescue corps, reached the core area of hard-hit Gyirong Port and began search and rescue operations.
"We will never give up as long as there is even the slightest hope," Huo Jianxin, a member of the advance group and deputy head of the Chengdu fire and rescue detachment, told Xinhua by phone while on the way to the core disaster area.
The mudslide, which occurred on the Nepalese side, struck Gyirong Port in Gyirong County, Xizang, on Wednesday morning. As of 3 p.m. on Friday, five people had been confirmed dead and 558 remained missing.
As of 10 a.m. on Friday, a total of 681 fire and rescue personnel and 113 vehicles had arrived at the remote mountainous border area, while 6,612 pieces of rescue equipment and logistical supplies had been dispatched to Gyirong Township, according to the National Fire and Rescue Administration.
The first team of 141 rescuers, as well as a high-altitude helicopter, arrived at the port on Thursday morning. Another batch of 111 rescuers from the China Search and Rescue team reached Gyirong County on Thursday afternoon.
Fire and rescue personnel have formed three specialized teams for search and rescue operations: one entering by rubber boats on waterways, another traveling on foot through mountainous terrain, and the third conducting aerial reconnaissance and supply drops via drones.
A total of 13 experts from the Shanghai Fire Research Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Management have also arrived at the site.
China's telecommunications sector has been working to maintain emergency communications and repair damaged infrastructure since the mudslide hit, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Friday.
As of 4 p.m. on Friday, one base station had been restored, and three additional base stations had been deployed, while emergency command communications at all levels of government remained uninterrupted.
The Ministry of Water Resources has convened a meeting to assess the evolving situation and potential impact of a barrier lake that formed near the confluence of two rivers after Wednesday's mudslide, and to make further arrangements for emergency response and water resources support for rescue operations.
Remote sensing analysis by the information center of the ministry showed that the barrier lake had a surface area of about 104,000 square meters at 11:43 a.m. on Friday, down roughly 16,000 square meters from 1 p.m. on Thursday, indicating that water was slowly flowing past the blockage and the lake's water volume was gradually declining.
The ministry called for closely monitoring and forecasting rainfall and water conditions in the affected river basins, swiftly reviewing the mudslide and investigating its causes, analyzing the barrier lake's flood discharges, and checking for other potential hazards upstream of Gyirong Port.
China Anneng, a state-owned engineering and rescue enterprise, sent out a 15-member team on Friday equipped with reconnaissance drones, portable satellite stations and mobile surveillance cameras to conduct on-site surveys of the blockage and surrounding roads to provide accurate data for efforts to address the barrier lake challenge.
Debris accumulated approximately 3 km upstream of the port can only be safely cleared once the risk posed by the blockage has been resolved, rescue personnel at the site have noted.
Meanwhile, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has allocated 4 million yuan (around 589,970 U.S. dollars) in special disaster relief funds to its regional branch in Xizang to support affected workers and residents as well as frontline rescue personnel, and to assist with rescue operations and post-disaster aid, the federation announced on Friday. ■
