China landslide death toll raised to 258: state media

BEIJING: The death toll from a landslide that engulfed a northern Chinese town grew to 258 on Tuesday with the discovery of four more bodies, a news agency said.

State media last week had quoted Minister of Work Safety Wang Jun saying "several hundred" people were thought still buried in the mud that swamped the town of Taoshi after a mining waste reservoir burst its banks on September 8.

The agency said that over the weekend rescuers had already combed through more than 90 percent of the affected area, located in Shanxi province.

Search work was continuing on Tuesday, it said.

The latest report offered no estimate of a potential final death toll.

The agency had previously said 35 people were injured in the disaster.

The torrent of sludge buried a village of 1,000 people, including a market that was packed with people attending a "major fair," Chinese press reports have said.

The provincial governor of Shanxi, Meng Xuenong, resigned on Sunday over the disaster and was replaced by work safety minister Wang.