Landslide in northwestern China kills 19 highway workers

BEIJING – Chinese state media say a landslide at a highway construction dormitory site has killed 19 workers and injured two others.

The official Xinhua News Agency says the landslide crushed eight temporary dormitory rooms and buried workers as they slept late Friday in the northwestern province of Shaanxi.

Landslides are common in China's mountainous regions, where construction of roads and deforestation have stripped the soil of vegetation. The risk of mudslides has increased without tree roots holding the soil in place.