The death toll of a landslide in northwest China's Shaanxi has risen to 17 by Thursday morning, as 11 others were still missing.

 

Zhang Pingping, a 10-year-old girl, survived the landslide. She said she hid in a wall corner with her grandfather and sister, after she was awakened by the noise. She cried for help when she heard the sound of her neighbors.

"I felt I could see nothing and feel nothing, when I was helped out. My only thought was that I didn't bring out my schoolbag," she said.

Mei Jingwen is in hospital. She suffered a fracture to her left arm. She was injured when the top floor of her three-story house crashed to the ground. She broke a window glass and jumped out with her son.

"Three of the ten injured admitted to the hospital have been discharged," said Wang Xiongwei, dean in the orthopedics department in the Zizhou County Hospital, Thursday.

Wang Haiyang, deputy county chief, said the landslide victims were not locals in Shuanghuyu Village. They bought the houses there, because the village was only 1 km from the county seat.

"Land resources experts have concluded the landslide was a geological disaster, as loess hard frozen throughout winter is likely to loosen in spring," Wang said.

Staff from the county's civil affairs bureau was issuing compensation payments, grants and living necessities to victims and their families on Thursday.