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12 Killed, 13 Missing in Reservoir Dyke Collapse in SW China
Twelve people were killed, 13 were missing and 12 were injured Wednesday night after a reservoir collapsed in Sichuan Province, southwest China, provincial officials said Thursday.
Officials with Sichuan Provincial Disaster Relief Office said the accident took place at 9:10 p.m. Wednesday (Beijing Time) when the dyke of the small, poorly-maintained reservoir Dalugou collapsed.
The accident was triggered by heavy rains that hit the area late Tuesday night and early Wednesday.
Sixty farmers' houses were washed away completely or partially by the flood water from the reservoir, said the officials.
They said 60 ha of farmland were destroyed, 1,400 domestic animals and nearly one million kg of grain were also lost in the rushing water.
Total economic loss is estimated at 23 million yuan (nearly 3 million U.S. dollars).
Local government officials arrived at the site to coordinate rescue operations one hour after the disaster occurred.
Zhou Yongkang, secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, has ordered an all-out effort to search for the missing people and offered assistance to farmers affected by the disaster.
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