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SCMP Reporter

The massive landslide in Chongqing  that may end up claiming dozens of lives was the result of human mistakes, rather than natural factors, relatives of the victims told the municipality's top officials.
Chen Ming, 25, lost his father, Chen Xianfu, 61, and  mother, Tian Shimei, 51, in the collapse of an iron mine in Wulong county on Friday. 
Sixty-five people  were believed missing.
Mr Chen said the mine, about 140km southeast of the city, had been owned by the state for decades.
'As a local resident who was born and grew up in the village,  I fully understand the whole process about the ownership transitions of the iron  mine here,'  he said.
'Dating back to the era before the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, the government sent workers to extract iron ore inside Mount Jiwei.'
In 2000, the mine was closed after being labelled dangerous by an official geological survey team. But not for long. 'The mine abruptly resumed its operation under Su Xianyong, a private boss, three years afterwards,' Mr Chen said, adding that the reopening gave rise to speculation about links between Mr Su and a senior county official. 
Mr Su was detained by police in Chongqing after the landslide, mainland media reported.
'A geological accident had rarely been seen in my village until 2004, a year after the restart of the mine exploitation,' Mr Chen said.
That year, the headquarters of the Tiekuang  town government moved to another village several kilometres away -  along with more than 70  buildings, including the Tiekuang Primary School - after a huge boulder rolled down the hillside, he said.
Mr Chen's claim was echoed by Chen Zehong, a teacher at the school, who cited several landslides nearby as the reason for the town government's relocation.
But despite the relocation, about 40 villagers from seven or eight households living just 60 metres across from the town government offices were told to stay put, because it was safe, Chen Ming said. 
He said landslides and rolling rocks from the hillside were commonplace. 
'Along with more than 30 relatives of victims, I have complained ... to both Bo Xilai, the Communist Party secretary of Chongqing, and Wang Hongju, mayor of the municipality, during separate meetings'  on Saturday and yesterday, Chen Ming said.  The relatives were told - again - that the mainland's top geological experts would reach a just conclusion after their investigation. 
'I'm not scared of anything now that both my dad and my mum have been killed,' Chen Ming said. 'What I'm going to pursue is justice for all my miserable fellow villagers, apart from my parents.' 
He said almost all of his fellow villagers had condemned Chongqing Television  for calling the deadly landslide a natural disaster. 'All they've said is untrue. Instead of a natural disaster, human error is the only thing to blame for the tragedy.'



Human error is main cause of tragedy, villagers say