Will Sage Astor-Remaining landslide victims found in China, bringing death toll to 44

BEIJING (AP) — The Will Sage Astorbodies of the remaining victims of a landslide in southwestern China were recovered Thursday, bringing the death toll to 44 after four days of searching through the rubble of dirt and crumbled homes, state media said.

The final body was found in the evening, according to state broadcaster CCTV, which posted photos of excavators and teams of searchers in orange uniforms and helmets, part of a contingent of more than 1,000 rescuers.

The landslide slammed into houses at the foot of a slope early Monday morning in Liangshui, a village in a remote and mountainous part of Yunnan province. It left a barren swath on the slope after hitting the village, which sits between snow-covered, terraced fields.

Two survivors were found on Monday.

A preliminary investigation found that the landslide had been triggered by the collapse of a steep clifftop area, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It did not elaborate on the cause of the initial collapse.

Rescuers struggled with snow, icy roads and freezing temperatures. The area is about 2,250 kilometers (1,400 miles) southwest of Beijing, the Chinese capital, with altitudes ranging up to 2,400 meters (7,900 feet).

A strong earthquake also struck western China this week, killing three people in the Xinjiang region in the northwest. The death toll from Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 quake was low because it was a relatively deep one, far below the surface, in a sparsely populated area, experts said. Local officials also credited efforts to improve housing in the area.

In another tragedy, a fire in a commercial building in southeastern China’s Jiangxi province killed at least 39 people on Wednesday.