Road access to Gyirong Port cleared, rescuers carry on comprehensive, in-depth search across affected area

Road access to the core area of Gyirong Port was basically restored at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, enabling rescue teams to adjust their deployment and comprehensively improve the efficiency of search operations in the mudslide-hit Gyirong County, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, according to China's Ministry of Emergency Management.

Since the disaster occurred, roads across the valley have been extensively damaged, with landslides, rocks and mud blocking access in multiple areas. During the initial stage of the rescue operation, rescue task forces conducted preliminary grid searches in the core area of the port mainly by moving on foot, using drones for reconnaissance and airlifting lightweight equipment.

With the rescue access route restored, rescue teams promptly adjusted their tactics, optimized the deployment of personnel and maximized the effectiveness of rescue operations.

For search operations, a coordinated search-and-rescue approach has been adopted, under which large engineering machinery clears obstacles and opens up working areas, professional rescue teams follow up with targeted searches and life-detection equipment is used.

Rescue teams are closely following the machinery as it clears the way, carrying out meticulous searches of areas with large rock accumulations, sites where buildings have been buried and sediment-filled sections of river channels. Wherever the machinery clears a path, targeted search and rescue operations follow.

Going forward, rescue teams will work in coordination with other rescue forces to carry out comprehensive and in-depth searches across the affected area, leaving no area that may have been overlooked unchecked and making every effort to find survivors.