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Three die in central China as tailings dam bursts

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-14 16:37

CHANGSHA -- Three people were confirmed dead and four others were injured when a tailings dam burst and set off a landslide that destroyed their home in central China's Hunan Province shortly after midnight, the local safety administration said.

The reservoir of manganese ore waste burst at 12:45 a.m. Thursday and toppled a house in Huayuan County of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, a spokesman with the provincial work safety administration confirmed.

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He said the reservoir, with a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters, belonged to a local mining company.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

A similar accident last year killed at least 277 people when a landslide of mud and mining waste swept through a village in the northern Shanxi Province.