Rescuers work at the accident site after a landslide occurred in Xinmo Village of Maoxian County, Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, June 24, 2017. The landslide on Saturday morning smashed some 40 homes, where about 100 people are feared to be buried. (Xinhua/He Qinghai)

Fifteen people have been confirmed dead in a landslide in southwest China’s Sichuan Province early Saturday that buried more than 120 people from 62 homes.

Rescuers had retrieved 15 bodies from the debris by 10 p.m. Saturday, the rescue headquarters said.

The search and rescue operation was underway overnight and people have been sent to observe potential secondary disasters.

Rescuers were combing the area with life detectors and sniffer dogs but no new signs of life have been found.

“We won’t give up as long as there is a slim of chance,” said one rescuer.

Xu Zhiwen, executive deputy governor of the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba that the landslide stuck, said the identities of 118 missing will be soon made public on the government’s website.

Xu also cleared up worries that some tourists might be among the buried as the village is in a tourist site.

All 142 tourists that entered the site Friday have been reached, said Xu.

The landslide from a high part of a mountain in Aba prefecture hit Xinmo Village in Maoxian County at about 6 a.m., blocking a 2-km section of river and burying 1,600 meters of road.

The provincial government has launched the highest level of disaster relief response and sent rescue teams to the site.

Currently, more than 3,000 workers with life-detection instruments are engaged in the search for survivors.

The provincial department of land and resources said the landslide was caused by heavy rain. An estimated 18 million cubic meters of earth mass fell some 1,600 meters, engulfing half of Xinmo Village. Geological experts at the site said the chance of survival for the people buried was really slim.

Only three people from one family were rescued five hours after the landslide struck. They were taken to Maoxian County People’s Hospital and none suffered life-threatening injuries. Another three-year-old child of the family remains buried.

Qiao Dashuai, 26-year-old husband of the family, recalled that he and his wife woke up to cries of their one-month-old son at about 5:30 a.m.

“Just after we changed the diaper for the baby, we heard a big bang outside and the light went out,” said Qiao. “We felt that something bad was happening and immediately rushed to the door, but the door was blocked by mud and rocks.”

The husband and wife mainly suffered bruises and their one-month-old son was being treated for pneumonia as he inhaled muddy water.

“I arrived at the site at 7:30 a.m. and found that the whole area was buried by the landslide,” said He Dajun, a worker with Maoxian County Power Company.

Another 110 people living nearby in another part of the village were being evacuated to a township school on Saturday night, fearing there might be rain and secondary disasters.

The village was relocated to the current site in 1976 as their previous location was prone to landslides and since then, villagers have been living in two groups in nearby locations.

The All China Lawyers Association (ACLA) on Saturday signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with five nations along the Belt and Road to strengthen legal cooperation.

The five countries are India, Laos, Mongolia, Poland and Thailand.

According to the agreement, lawyers associations of these countries will expand legal cooperation with China in fields such as infrastructure building, enterprise investment and financing, manufacturing and information technologies, so as to guarantee the smooth development of major cooperation projects.

Law firms of the five countries and China will establish affiliated agencies at each other’s side, and offer convenience to facilitate high-level exchanges and the implementation of major plans.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for comprehensively improving the country’s rocket launch and test capabilities.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks during inspection of a space force unit based in Shanxi Province in north China on Thursday.

At about 9 a.m., Xi arrived at the unit’s history museum. The military base, first set up in 1960s, was an indigenously designed and built national defense testing ground.

Xi highly recognized the efforts of officers and staff of the base in the past 50 years, and said the Party and the people should show gratitude to their outstanding contributions in promoting the national defense power.

He also urged to care more about the life of the officers and soldiers at the base and help them solve problems.

The president then paid a visit to the base’s cultural and sports center where he met with the base’s officers, and asked them to make concerted efforts to develop new combat forces which can be integrated into the PLA’s joint operation system.

Xi also stressed deepening the military and civilian integration, and encouraged the aerospace forces to play an exemplary role in this area for all the armed forces.

Rain lasting for two days in central China’s Hunan Province has left two people dead and 466,500 people suffering losses, while authorities on Friday closed all major tourist spots.

The rain damaged hundreds of houses in Hunan and 24,600 hectares of farmland were flooded. The two deaths occurred in Yongshun County, where a house collapsed on Friday burying two children, aged 7 and 5, according to the provincial civil affairs department.

The rain disrupted traffic in several towns. The civil affairs department is still investigating casualties and losses, while aid to the affected areas.

The Hunan provincial tourist commission closed more than 10 destinations, including Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and Fenghuang river town. The commission warned tourists against traveling, camping or picnicking near rivers or on hillsides.

The local weather observatory forecast that the rain would become heavier on Saturday, and last till Wednesday.

In east China’s Jiangxi Province, the provincial weather observatory on Saturday issued a red alert for rain, the highest level in the four-tier weather alert system. Heavy rain since Tuesday has forced the evacuation of 14,000 people to safer places.

The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong have benefited each other and have grown together since Hong Kong’s return to the motherland 20 years ago, K. Wah Group Chairman Lui Che-woo told Xinhua recently.

“The central government’s policy towards Hong Kong has supported Hong Kong’s development, while Hong Kong on the other hand has helped the mainland to open up further to the world,” said the 88-year-old tycoon, wearing his trademark flap cap.

Lui believes that Hong Kong has maintained its core value over the past 20 years. “You can see that it is more prosperous nowadays.”

Prior to 1997, some foreign and local companies moved their businesses away from Hong Kong for fear of uncertain future. K. Wah Group went the other way around.

“I think the return to the motherland presents lots of opportunities for Hong Kong,” he said, “With the mainland behind our back, Hong Kong’s future will be bright. So we concentrated our business in Hong Kong at that time.”

Founded in 1955 and starting from quarrying industry, K. Wah Group has expanded rapidly during the past two decades, becoming a conglomerate of construction materials, properties, hospitality and entertainment and leisure resorts, with total assets value mounting to hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.

Lui said Hong Kong has made huge progress in finance, trading, tourism and transportation after 1997, together with sound legal system, helping elevate Hong Kong’s international status significantly.

“Hong Kong is right behind New York and London now, but without the support from the mainland, Hong Kong would not be so strong,” Lui chuckled. “Hong Kong people should be grateful to all the benefits.”

He said the successful implementation of the “one country, two systems” principle in Hong Kong has ensured its prosperity and stability.

“The principle is the smartest way to balance two different political and economic systems, enabling Hong Kong and the mainland to adapt and cooperate with each other. The achievement is well recognized,” Lui said.

As one of the earliest Hong Kong companies to enter the mainland market in the 1980s, K. Wah Group has now become a major construction material supplier in the northern, eastern and southern China.

The company also seized the opportunities to transform itself into a fully integrated environmentally-friendly enterprise, in line with China’s national policy of sustainable development.

“So far our eco-product business in the Chinese mainland is good, sometimes in short supply,” Lui said.

With over five decades of quarrying experience, K. Wah Group also strives to share a piece of cake from the Belt and Road Initiative, as many infrastructure projects are planned along the revived ancient trade routes.

“I wish there would be more opportunities for us, and hopefully our business in countries along the Belt and Road will exceed that in Hong Kong,” Lui said.

He also spoke highly of southern China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. “The concept is quite attractive,” Lui said, adding Hong Kong will become an important hub of trading, tourism and industry as all the places within the bay area will be linked more closely in the future.

“K. Wah Group has confidence in investing the bay area, and there are some projects under negotiation currently,” said Lui, with a high expectation that the central government will grant more incentives to Hong Kong businessmen.

He is upbeat about China’s future development. “The mainland is leading ahead in many fields, such as technology, and Hong Kong is also catching up. I believe the country will continue moving forward.”