1 dead, 13 missing after midsize bus goes missing in North China

TAIYUAN -- One person was found dead and 13 remain missing after contact with a midsize bus was lost Sunday morning in North China's Shanxi province following days of rainfall, local authorities said late Sunday.

The midsize bus carrying 14 people went missing near a village in Tianzhen county in the city of Datong early Sunday morning, the rescue headquarters said.

One body was retrieved in a downstream area at 1:43 pm and was later confirmed to be one of the missing ones on the bus, the rescue headquarters said.

As of 4 pm, authorities at various levels had mobilized more than 700 rescuers to search the roads and rivers that the bus might have traveled with the help of two helicopters, eight drones and six kayaks.

Authorities have even organized township officials, residents and police officers to search 20 km upstream and downstream of the area where the contact was lost.

The Ministry of Emergency Management has dispatched a working group to guide the rescue operation at the scene, and the National Institute of Natural Hazards has brought aeromagnetic equipment to assist with the search operation.

Xinhua reporters at the scene saw that following days of rainfall since July 23, the local roads are seriously waterlogged. Water mixed with mud and sand flooded the original roads and bridges, complicating the search and rescue operation.