Photo: Screenshot from CCTV

A truck carrying 15 people that plunged into a river in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Saturday killed 10 people, with five others survived, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing local authorities. 

The truck plunged into the river while crossing a flooded bridge in Luoyang town, Hechi, China Central Television (CCTV) reported. 

As of 10 am on Tuesday, rescuers had located the submerged vehicle and recovered one missing person, who was later confirmed dead, according to CCTV. 

As of Tuesday evening, all the missing people from the vehicle plunging off the bridge into water had been found. In total, five people survived and ten were killed in the incident, Xinhua reported.

Heavy to torrential rain hit parts of Guangxi, including Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Nanning, Liuzhou and Baise, from Monday to Tuesday, with the highest daily precipitation reaching 269.5 millimeters in Naliang township, Fangchenggang. 

Affected by the heavy rainfall, rivers including the Beilun River, the Maoling River, the Hongshui River, and the Fangcheng River recorded water level rises of one to five meters. Floodwaters exceeding warning levels by 0.82 meters to 1.05 meters were reported at three monitoring stations on two rivers. 

In addition to the rainstorm disasters, two magnitude-5.2 earthquakes struck Liunan district of Liuzhou on Monday, with tremors felt in multiple parts of the autonomous region. More than 10,000 residents have been evacuated and relocated, CCTV reported. 

The earthquake has resulted in two deaths. The last person who was rescued was a 91-year-old man, according to Xinhua. 

China Earthquake Administration has activated a joint prevention and coordination mechanism covering five provincial-level regions in central and southern China. Drones and other equipment have been deployed to the quake-hit area to carry out disaster assessments, per CCTV. 

Strong tremors were felt in multiple villages, towns, and subdistricts due to the impact of the earthquake. In Liunan district, one house collapsed in Luohe village, while falling rocks were reported in Fengshan village. In Liubei district, cracks appeared in the walls of some residential buildings. 

Staff members from the local earthquake monitoring center rushed to the quake-hit area immediately to assess whether any buildings had collapsed and whether people were trapped or injured. Upon arriving at the scene, they observed falling rocks, slope collapses, and cracks in buildings, CCTV reported, citing Li Gaofeng, director of the Liuzhou’s earthquake monitoring center. 

Authorities have set up 99 temporary shelters in the quake-hit area, housing more than 4,000 people, while over 7,000 others have been relocated to safe locations as monitoring, consultations and assessments, and emergency response efforts continue, per CCTV. 

At the concentrated resettlement site in Taiyangcun township, more than 1,200 affected residents have been accommodated. Folding beds, bedding, and other relief supplies have been provided, while hot meals and drinking water are readily available. Early Tuesday morning, electricity for lighting and daily use was restored to all 48 emergency tents at the resettlement site, according to CCTV. 

China Earthquake Administration has dispatched an on-site task force made up of 85 experts from provincial earthquake agencies in Guangxi, Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, and Hainan, as well as from the China Earthquake Networks Center and the China Earthquake Disaster Prevention Center.

The team, equipped with mobile monitoring systems, drones, satellite communications equipment, and other specialized devices, has rushed to the quake-hit area to carry out emergency mobile monitoring, disaster assessments, seismic intensity evaluations, and public emergency awareness popularization activities. 

At present, the task force has completed intensity surveys at 16 sites, deployed seven mobile observation stations and 49 sets of seismometers. 

Global Times