Rescue crews find 700 safe after Taiwan mudslide

The survivors from four villages made it to higher ground before walls of mud and rock submerged their homes, said Hu Jui-chou, an army official involved in the rescue effort.

Among them are about 200 people from Hsiao Lin, a village in Kaohsiung county that was obliterated by a landslide, Hu said.

Others from the villages of Sanmin, Namahsia and Chinghe were also found safe.

But many are still missing, Hu said. Up to 600 were feared buried in the Hsiao Lin mudslide on Monday morning following heavy rains from Typhoon Morakot over the weekend.

On Monday and Tuesday, as hundreds of anxious relatives waited at a makeshift search and rescue base, helicopters brought survivors, many injured, back from the villages as slides had blocked the roads.

Rescue work will continue on Wednesday, Kazinform cites Trend News. See www.news-en.trend.az for full version.