Hebei authorities retract claims of zero flood deaths

Source:Global Times Published: 2016/7/23 1:14:40

Local authorities in Xingtai, North China's Hebei Province admitted late on Friday that a recent flood had left nine dead and 11 missing, changing earlier reports of no casualties.

On Friday, videos of bodies of victims allegedly killed in the flood - which was caused by heavy rains that began Monday - went viral. One video allegedly shows distraught family members of the victims and a government official kneeling down together, with the latter trying to comfort the villagers.

An unnamed official with the economic and technology development district of Xingtai told news portal thepaper.cn that the video of the kneeling villagers is authentic and shows district official Wang Qingfei meeting with emotional villagers at the flood-hit area.

The official also confirmed that some villagers and families of the flood victims had stopped traffic at a road junction on Friday morning.

Wang had said in a local TV program that aired Wednesday that there were no deaths in the flood, according to thepaper.com.

Stories circulated online accused local authorities of failing to alert villagers when floodwater was discharged into the villages to relieve flood pressure on a nearby reservoir.

The authorities had not commented on such rumors as of press time.

Xingtai was hit by heavy rain beginning on Monday, with the three-day precipitation mounting to more than 500 millimeters in some areas of the city.


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