Deaths counted as Three-Gorges starts to take its toll

A bus with 30 people on board covered by a mudslide in the Three-Gorges basin was a highly symbolic incident, as the central government tries to reverse the negative news about former premier Li Peng's favorite project.
After a highly charged domestic discussion about the dangers of the Three-Gorges dam was banned from the media, the government started to give a positive angle to the current development.
Massive landslides into the basin, now killing at least 30 people in once incident, have not helped. AP reports:

The landslide tore a 50-meter (-yard) gash on a mountainside Tuesday morning and heightened concern that the massive reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam, 200 kilometers (120 miles) away, was wreaking ecological havoc in the region. Work crews clearing the rubble found the wreckage of the long-distance bus Friday morning, a local official and the government's Xinhua News Agency reported.