Chinese villagers want landslide reinvestigated

BEIJING (AP) - Villagers in southwest China are demanding that authorities reinvestigate the cause of a landslide that killed 46 people, because they think the disaster was related to mining activities.

Authorities have said that Friday's landslide in Yunnan province was a natural disaster caused by soil heavily saturated by rain and snow. They said other factors included the slope's steepness and the impact from an earthquake.

Xinhua News Agency said on Wednesday that 72 villagers have written to the Ministry of Land and Resources, the State Administration of Work Safety and the China University of Geosciences.

Villagers believe that blasting and other mining work opened up huge fissures in a nearby mountain.