So sad, and some comfort

Found in Mud: Precious Links to Loved Ones

Gently, Dayn Brunner reached into the mangled car and lifted his younger sister’s lifeless body out of the driver’s seat and onto a waiting tarp. For almost a week, he and his teenage sons had slogged through the muddy catacomb of what had once been a neighborhood, scouring the pulped homes and broken earth for some sign of her. Now, it was time to say goodbye and wait for the helicopter to take her away.

“We cried together, and we moved her over,” he said.

But before they could go, Mr. Brunner, 42, turned back to the blue Subaru to salvage a few of the things that his sister Summer Raffo, 36, had carried with her on her final drive through the valley. He found a horse halter — she had loved to ride and breed horses. Her wallet. Her checkbook. A few packets of honey from KFC stashed in the glove compartment. He tucked them away.

How very sad

Bodies found after landslide buries Chinese school

The bodies of 18 children have been found after a landslide buried elementary school students and a villager in southwest China, state media said Friday. Rescuers found the bodies as they scoured through rubble at a village after the landslide struck the school and two houses in Yunnan province, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

One person is still missing, CCTV reported.

The students were studying Thursday during a public holiday to make up for classes disrupted by recent earthquakes.

Since then, another body has been found, according to:

Death toll rises to 19 in SW China landslide

My thoughts are with the families of those lost.