Chinese man survived 3 days buried in mud

A man who was pulled alive from a mudslide that covered buildings in southern China had his legs crushed in the disaster.

A survivor is found at the site of landslide at an industrial park in Shenzhen

A survivor is found at the site of landslide at an industrial park in Shenzhen Source: AAP

A man has been pulled alive from rubble in a southern Chinese city, more than 60 hours after a waste heap collapsed and buried dozens of buildings in mud and construction debris, state media says.

Tian Zeming, who was found early on Wednesday, was in a coherent state but his legs had been crushed in Sunday's landslide at an industrial park in Shenzhen, a boom-town near Hong Kong.

"He told the soldiers who rescued him, there is another survivor close by," state news agency Xinhua said, although it later reported rescuers had found another body rather than a survivor.

That took the confirmed death toll to two. The government has said more than 70 people are missing in China's latest industrial disaster, although this figure continues to be revised down as authorities make contact with people who were believed to have been buried but were not.

Firefighters had to squeeze into a narrow room around Tian and pull debris out by hand at the dump site in Hengtaiyu industrial park, rescuer Zhang Yabin told Xinhua.

Tian has had surgery and is in a stable condition in hospital, though he may lose a foot, the Xinhua report said.

On Tuesday, police raided offices of the company that was managing the dump site, Shenzhen Yixianglong Investment Development.

Chinese news portals said police had taken away a deputy general manager named Yu Shengli. Calls to the company seeking comment went unanswered. Shenzhen police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Xinhua said the dump was being used 10 months after it was supposed to have stopped taking waste, earning Yixianglong some 7.5 million yuan ($A1.60 million) in fees.

While no waste is being brought to the Hengtaiyu industrial park now, dumping has also stopped at another controversial site in Shenzhen, in the district of Bujiuwo, which opened in 2008 and was due to close three years later.

Its use was extended in 2013 despite strong opposition from residents and even some local politicians, according to Chinese newspapers.

Shenzhen media has warned that the city was running out of space to store construction waste, especially as the city works on an ambitious subway construction scheme.

The landslide was the second major man-made disaster in China in four months. At least 160 people were killed in massive chemical blasts in the northern port city of Tianjin in August.


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Source: AAP



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