Death toll rises to 9 in NW China's rain-triggered landslide

Rescuers have retrieved five more bodies in a rain-triggered landslide in northwest China''s Shaanxi Province, bringing the death toll to nine in Saturday''s accident that also wounded five and left an unknown number of people missing. About 100,000 cubic meters of rock and mud roared down the mountain Saturday and engulfed a brick factory and destroyed part of a nearby ceramics factory in a suburban district of Xi''an City, the capital of Shaanxi Province. Local officials have confirmed that four people were killed while five others were wounded and sent to nearby hospitals, China''s News Agency (Xinhua) reported. Rescuers continued their efforts despite continuous rainfalls and five more bodies were retrieved Sunday. Local government information office initially put the number of missing at about a dozen but witnesses said it could be dozens. More than 700 police, firefighters, and local residents have joined the rescue, which is under way till Sunday morning, officials said. However, the rescue has become difficult as heavy rains continue pounding the city.