Recovery teams working at the site of a deadly landslide in southwestern China have identified 30 more victims in the past week, pushing the confirmed death toll to 41, according to authorities who made the announcement Tuesday.
The disaster struck on July 17 in Pengshui, an outer county of Chongqing, when enormous quantities of rock and soil cascaded down a hillside, burying at least 10 residential buildings and a passenger minibus. Ten people were also reported injured in the incident, and 20 individuals remain missing.
According to the county government, recovery crews have been working through four distinct sections of the disaster zone and have relied on DNA testing to identify victims’ remains. Late Sunday, searchers located the wreckage of the minibus that had been swallowed by the landslide.
