The death toll from floods in North China continues to rise. According to CCTV reports, of the 14 people on a medium-sized bus washed away by floods in Tianzhen County, Datong City, Shanxi Province in the early morning of the 27th, as of the evening of the 30th, 10 have been found—all confirmed dead—while the other 4 remain missing. This has brought the official death toll from the North China floods up to 50.
According to Jiupai News, citing Tianzhen County government personnel and informed sources, the 13 passengers on this medium-sized bus were all migrant workers, most of whom were middle-aged or elderly individuals who typically made a living on short-term jobs. The driver was a middle-aged woman who, in addition to driving this bus, also worked part-time as a taxi driver.
The report noted that on the day of the incident, the 27th, these 13 passengers set off early in the morning to help with the pepper harvest in local vegetable greenhouses to supplement their household income. Unexpectedly, they encountered a sudden surge in river water, and the entire bus was swept away by the raging floodwaters, leaving all 14 people onboard missing.
Based on a compilation of recent reports from Chinese media, as of midnight on the 29th, 30 people in Beijing have died due to floods—28 in Miyun District and 2 in Yanqing District; by noon on the 29th, a landslide in Luanping County, Hebei Province had caused 8 deaths, with 4 still missing; as of 6 p.m. on the 26th, a landslide in Fuping County, Hebei Province had killed 2 people and left 2 missing; adding in the 10 confirmed deaths from the bus catastrophe in Tianzhen County, Shanxi, the official death toll from the North China floods has now risen to 50.