Search and rescue efforts continued Saturday night as more personnel arrived at the landslide site after it occurred in Maoxian county, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, earlier in the day.

Huge rocks unleashed from above continued to fall from time to time, posing threats to rescuers as they raced against time to search for and rescue possible survivors after the estimated eight million-cubic-meter volume of landslide engulfed a cluster of residential houses.

So far, a total of 13 bodies have been retrieved from the debris.

Rescuers also were ordered to evacuate people living near the disaster scene, clear roads and dredge the waterway cut off by the landslide with the help of flood lighting vehicles.

According to the local weather department, rain will hit the region at night, further bringing down temperatures and making rescue efforts more difficult.

An army aviation brigade from No.77 group army of Western Theater Command dispatched first batch of two helicopters to the landslide site with members from field command group and a total of 15 medical staff from Chengdu General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army.

Soldiers also identified three to five landing sites for helicopters, paving way for further rescue efforts.

Other four helicopters are also on standby. Sichuan military command established front-line headquarters in the wake of the landslide and organised over 460 local emergency militiamen to join the rescue efforts.

They were divided into small groups to search for and rescue possible survivors, transfer injured people and transport relief materials.

Medical staff at People’s Hospital of Maoxian County also got prepared as doctors and nurses will be on duty round the clock for seven days.

Medical equipment, devices and other related materials are all set.