Fatal landslide cuts off roads, power in Xinjiang village

URUMQI - A landslide that has killed 35 people cut off roads, electricity and telecommunications in a remote village in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

As the village, deep in the Kunlun Mountains, has lost contact with the outside, rescuers had to ride donkeys or walk to the site, according to the region's publicity office.

The rain-triggered landslide struck the village in Kokyar Township in Yecheng County of Kashgar Prefecture in small hours of Wednesday, burying houses and their occupants.

The flow of the mud flow hit nearly 1,500 cubic meters per second.

By Thursday night, the death toll was confirmed at 35. The rescue operation is still underway.

The village is about 170 km from the county seat. Kashgar is 1,500 km southwest of the regional capital of Urumqi.