DHAKA: Some 22 buildings have collapsed in a landslide at an industrial park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

About 900 people have been evacuated, with four people pulled alive from rubble with minor or no injuries, the local government said.

No fatalities have been reported.

Shenzhen’s fire brigade said it was working to free other trapped people. At least 27 remain missing.

Two workers’ dormitories are among the affected buildings.

Shenzhen’s public security bureau posted a notice online saying that eight hours after the landslide, 21 men and six women were unaccounted for, media report, says the BBC.

An area of 20,000 sq m was covered with soil, the Public Security Bureau’s firefighting bureau said.

Ren Jiguang, the deputy chief of Shenzhen’s public security bureau, told state broadcaster CCTV that most people had been moved to safety before the landslide hit.

Some 1,500 firefighters are at the scene, the Guangming New Area Government said on its official page on the Sina Weibo micro-blogging site.

Local media reported that the soil that came loose had been dug up in the past two years in construction work and was piled up nearby.

A statement on Weibo from the Shenzhen municipal government said the landslide had also triggered an explosion at a nearby gas station.

A landslide in the country’s Zhejiang province in November killed at least 25 people.

BDST: 2126 HRS, DEC 20, 2015
RR