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INTRO
On Friday a devastating landslide engulfed a small county in the mountains of southwest China's Yunnan Province, claiming more than 40 lives...
It's the same region struck by a landslide and multiple earthquakes, late last year.
Now, families who lost their beloved ones are questioning whether the disaster was natural - or man-triggered.
Despite the landslide being described by local authorities as a result of icy rain and heavy snow, those who lost their families, don't buy it...
On Wednesday, 72 disaster-hit villagers sent a joint letter to authorities, demanding a reinvestigation into the cause of the accident.
They want the Ministry of Land and Resources, the State Administration of Work Safety and the China University of Geosciences to reinvestigate the landslide.
Villagers speculated the landslide was related to local mining activities.
A coal miner says the mining area is right beneath the landslide - not 500 meters away, as the purported 'experts' said.
Witnesses say they saw "earth and rocks spraying up into the air" when the landslide occurred.
And villagers believe the landslide may have been triggered by a gas explosion, in the mine allegedly below.
The landslide occurred in Zhenxiong County, Zhaotong City on Friday, killing 46 villagers and injuring two.
Lei Chuying, deputy head of Zhenxiong County government, denied a mine explosion was behind the landslide, saying that no coal fragments were found in the sprayed earth.
On Saturday, the head of a group of geological disaster prevention experts said steep slopes, unstable soil and recent precipitation contributed to the landslide.
And multiple earthquakes that jolted the nearby Yiliang County in September of last year were also a factor.
But until an independent investigation confirms this, grieving villagers say they won't believe it.
