FOUR people were confirmed dead and 48 others missing, after rainstorms hit Jinyang County in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, on Aug. 21, local authorities said yesterday.

President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out search and rescue of the people missing in the disaster.

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, demanded comprehensive investigation and strengthened safety supervision to ensure the safety of the people’s lives and property.

Premier Li Qiang has also issued an instruction, urging prompt efforts to ascertain relevant facts and information, as well as an all-out search and rescue of the missing.

Yuan Gang, deputy director of the provincial public security department, said at a press conference that rainstorms triggered a flash flood at a highway construction site. Five people from the construction company and a labor service company were detained Monday. They are accused of failing to report the accident or deliberately providing false information about the accident.

The police investigation has confirmed that there were 201 people at the construction site when the disaster occurred, of which 149 escaped the danger.

Police continue to probe the case, while the search for the missing people is still under way.

In the early morning of Aug. 21, a flash flood hit Jinyang due to a short spell of heavy downpour. The flooding washed away the make-shift houses of the workers in the steel bar processing site of the Shudao Group that was undertaking the highway construction project in the lower reaches of the Lugaolin River, resulting in the casualties.

More than 2,000 people have joined the search and rescue operations.

A police investigation has found that the people in charge of the project safety and those on duty Aug. 21 ignored the rainstorm warning and evacuation alerts sent by the local flood prevention and emergency management departments.

No measures were adopted to evacuate the workers from the site prior to the occurrence of the accident.(Xinhua)