New Delhi, July 31 -- The death toll from a devastating landslide in Chongqing, a sprawling city in southwestern China, has climbed to 51, while 10 people remain missing, making it the country's deadliest landslide disaster in more than a decade.

The tragedy struck Pengshui County on July 17, when a massive collapse of rocks and earth crashed onto residential buildings along the banks of the Wujiang River, burying homes and trapping dozens of people beneath the debris. Local officials had earlier begun evacuating around 1,100 residents after identifying signs of an impending landslide earlier that day.

Search and recovery operations are still underway in the Wujiang River, according to authorities in Pengshui County. The landslide burie...