Our wedding is in 10 days. Why is this happening?: Anguish of woman whose fiancé is missing after huge Shenzhen landslide

Heartbroken relatives of people missing in the Shenzhen landslide gathered near the scene of the disaster and at a temporary shelter on Monday, anxiously waiting for news about their loved ones, but their hope gradually fading.

A woman whose fiancé is among the missing broke down as she stood on the boundary of the mountain of earth and was led away by her family as rescuers continued their search in the distance.

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The woman, who did not give her name, said she was due to marry Peng Chuxin, 28, on December 31. “Our wedding is in 10 days. Why is this happening?” she said. She had tried without success to get into the industrial park in Guangming New District, where the landslide buried dozens of buildings and left 85 people missing on Sunday morning.

Her relatives told the South China Morning Post that Peng was at his father’s cement factory with his mother at the time. They had gone with his father  to pick up items for the wedding, which was due to be held in their hometown in Jieyang, also in Guangdong. 

His father survived by holding onto a truck that was then washed down a slope and swept along for more than 50 metres. He was sent to hospital for treatment. Peng Chuxin was only a step behind, but was trying to help his mother. Neither made it to safety.

“They shouldn’t have come back [to the factory],” Peng’s younger brother said. “They hadn’t gone back here for ages. They only went back on Sunday morning and right away the disaster happened.”