Vehicles that were driving along a highway that collapsed during the earthquake near Santiago are seen overturned on the asphalt Saturday Feb. 27, 1010 after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday. The quake hit 200 miles (325 kilometers) southwest of the capital and the epicenter was just 70 miles (115 kilometers) from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city.

They say many died as a result of school building collapses.

The figure is much higher than previous unofficial estimates.

In total, the 7.9 magnitude quake killed more than 80,000 people.

The collapse of so many, often badly built schools has been the most controversial aspect of the disaster.

China quake claimed 19,000 in school collapses

More than 1,000 rescue workers have combed through 90 percent of the inundated area — digging through hundreds of thousands of tons of slush, mud and rocks around a mine in Xiangfen county, the China Daily newspaper said.

The county is located in the country’s Shanxi Province.

Crews have begun a new round of search in a 330-yard ditch filled with silt.

“This is the toughest phase of the ongoing rescue,” the newspaper quoted Lian Zhedong, chief of the rescue headquarters, as saying.

The head of the county and the Communist Party chief of Xiangfen have been suspended from duty, the newspaper said.

Earlier, authorities detained 13 people. Among them are the board chairman of the Xinta Mining Company, the mine manager, a vice manager and accountant.

The deaths occurred after torrential rain on Monday at the Tashan Mine, which operated illegally.

The amount of iron-ore waste in a holding pond exceeded the pond’s capacity, Xinhua said, and intense rain triggered a flow of mud and rocks that roared down a valley Monday to collapse a warehouse, bury homes and damage cars.

The deluge also destroyed a three-story office building and a market.

The China Daily report said the economic loss from the disaster is an estimated 9.18 million yuan ($1.34 million)