Latest Nepal quake cuts off China-Nepal highway

LHASA, May 13 : Chinese armed police are working to reopen a section of a China-Nepal highway which was blocked by the latest 7.5-magnitude quake that struck Nepal on Tuesday afternoon.

More than 120 police officers together with 18 excavators are cleaning about 40,000 cubic meters of debris on the 13-km section between Zham Township and Zham Port in Tibet, as the segment has caved in at nine points, according to Liu Guorong, head of the operation.

Early on Wednesday morning, Xinhua reporters saw rocks falling from the mountain along the blocked road due to aftershocks.

The fresh quake has killed 65 people in Nepal and one person in Tibet.

Another section of the China-Nepal highway between Zham Port and Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, was cut off by the 8.1-magnitude quake that jolted Nepal on April 25. Two weeks later, Chinese armed police helped reopen it.

This original quake had claimed more than 8,000 lives in Nepal and left 26 dead in southwest China’s Tibet as of Sunday.(Xinhua)