Scenic spot closed after flood kills 8

JINXIU, Guangxi - A mountain scenic spot in South China's Guangxi autonomous region has been closed after a flash flood claimed the lives of eight tourists and left nine others injured on Sunday, according to authorities in Jinxiu county.

Paradise Valley in the Yao autonomous county of Jinxiu has shut down its rafting business. Police have detained executives of a firm managing the tourist spot, said Huang Guiheng, a county government spokesman at a press conference on Monday.

He said the mountain torrents triggered by an upstream dam collapse occurred around 3:35 pm on Sunday, when 94 tourists in organized tours were at the spot taking part in water rafting.

Rescuers brought 86 of them to safety, and retrieved eight bodies from the river valley, including a couple from the city of Guilin and a father and his daughter from Wuzhou city.

Huang said that local authorities are investigating whether the management firm had a valid business license for managing the valley rafting business.