Villagers evacuted watch TV at a hotel on Dec 25 in Huichang county, Jiangxi province.[Photo/Xinhua]
NANCHANG - A land cave-in had prompted the evacuation of more than 800 villagers by Saturday evening in East China's Jiangxi province, local authorities said.
Excessive salt mining caused the land to sink, according to an initial investigation.
With a diameter of 50 meters and a maximum depth of 5 meters, the cave-in occurred 8:40 pm Thursday in Zhoutian Township, Huichang county in Jiangxi, said a local government spokesman.
Villagers said they had seen water spouting from the ground, with jets reaching up to 2 meters high, and 500-meter-long cracks in the ground since Thursday.
Further, a subsidy of 300 yuan ($45) is to be allocated to every evacuated villager, said Xie Fuzhou, head of Zhoutian Township.
Among the evacuated, 90 percent turned to friends or relatives for shelter, with another 10 percent having been moved into vacant rooms in nearby hotels or homes for the aged, Xie said.
The Nine Two Salt Mine, which was believed to have caused the accident due to excessive mining, was ordered to halt operating on Friday afternoon.
Experts have set up five observation posts to forecast further sinking.
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