(Changes dateline, previous BEIJING, adds death toll, details) By Ben Blanchard XIANGFEN, China, Sept 9 (Reuters) - More than 50 people were killed and hundreds more may be missing in north China after a reservoir of mining waste collapsed, burying cars and homes under a wall of sludge. Torrential rain triggered Monday's avalanche of mud and rocks after the holding pond at the Tashan mine in Shanxi province was apparently filled beyond capacity, state media said. The torrent was several metres high and destroyed houses and a three story office building in minutes, witnesses told the official Xinhua agency. It said on Tuesday the death toll had risen to 56, with another 35 injured. State radio said in a report on its website that "several hundred" were missing, though it did not provide details. Xinhua said the number of missing had yet to be determined. Heavy downpours in Xiangfen county on Tuesday hampered rescue efforts by more than 1,100 police, firefighters and villagers who were hunting for survivors. "We're busy trying to rescue people but it's very hard work with all the mud and rocks," said Hu Yanzai, Communist Party secretary of Chongshi, which is next to the villages that were wiped out. "It's hard to estimate how many died. It's all mud and we don't know how many escaped," Hu told Reuters by telephone. "I'd estimate at least 100 (dead). It's a big area ... I don't know what to feel. I feel numb." Many victims are thought to have been migrant mine workers. Without their families nearby, it could be harder to identify the dead or even pin down exactly how many are missing. Officials rushed to direct rescue efforts and find the cause of the disaster. The area has several other ore mines. "Our preliminary investigation found that this accident was caused by illegal enterprises who discharged waste sand into a mine tailings dam," said deputy work safety chief, Wang Dexue. "When the dam reached its capacity, it burst. Heavy rain accelerated the process," he told state television. DETENTIONS, ANGER The mine owner and eight others had been held, Xinhua said, and several officials sacked for failing to prevent the disaster. Pictures showed overturned vehicles covered in a sticky sludge and parts of houses buried under several metres of dark mud. Rescuers clambered over the scene looking for survivors, some using excavators, others their hands. On an Internet chatroom hosted by popular portal Baidu (http://www.baidu.com) for residents of Linfen, near where the accident happened, one user said word from the mudslide site was that "the situation was much worse than imagined". Another said: "The black-hearted mine bosses make their fortune and leave, and leave behind a deadly mess." China's mining industry is the world's deadliest, killing nearly 3,800 people last year, as high demand for raw materials from a booming economy pushes managers to cut safety corners. Most victims are coal miners. Because iron ore mines are generally open pits, they are less likely than coal mines to collapse and kill miners trapped inside, and so have not attracted as much regulatory attention. But newspapers reported in April that Shanxi had launched a three-year campaign to lower hazards from mines and tailings. Officials said 676 villages were threatened by subsidence, building damage and other geological hazards. Strong iron ore prices and China's desire to limit imports have allowed miners to dig up even very low-grade deposits, often with little regard for safety or environmental measures. (Additional reporting by Chris Buckley, Lucy Hornby, Yu Le and Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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