The deathtoll in a mudslide in northwest China continues to climb. Over 300 have lost their lives, and more than a thousand are missing.<br /><br />Cries of grief echoed through the northwest Chinese town of Zhouqu on Tuesday that was half-smothered by a mudslide three days ago.<br /><br />The death toll in Zhouqu, in a narrow valley in Gansu Province, jumped from 137 earlier on Monday evening to 337, according to a local official.<br /><br />That number is sure to grow, with around 1,100 people still missing, possibly buried under mud and rocks that engulfed much of the town.<br /><br />[Yin Linfeng, Survivor]: (Mandarin, female) <br />"It is my niece buried underneath. She is a high school student, a very nice girl. She was buried in the rubble when she was looking after my house. Only a handful of my neighbors survived. One of them was working at the local school. The rest of them just didn't make it... I will not give up. I want to see her body if she is dead. It was all my fault."<br /><br />But the slurry of mud that devastated the worst hit areas has complicated rescue efforts and dimmed hopes of finding people alive.<br /><br />Some relatives criticized the rescue efforts.<br /><br />[Zhu Fujun, Survivor]: (Mandarin, male) <br />"All our family members started to dig with shovels the moment we arrived. We couldn't find the soldiers, they might have gone to have lunch, I am not quite sure why we couldn't find them. There are still 16 people buried underneath, including my brother."<br /><br />But some locals pointed the finger of blame at the destruction of forests.<br /><br />[Fen Haiming, Survivor]: (Mandarin, male) <br />"I think it happened due to ecological destruction. The landslide is the worst in decades. I believe it was caused by human error."<br /><br />Experts said the landslide, which carried mud and rubble over three miles, may have been caused by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake loosening the mountainside.
