Rescuers scrabbling through the debris of a huge three-day-old landslide discovered a young man alive in the mud Wednesday, as China's cabinet announced a probe into the nation's latest industrial disaster, Fox news reported.

Tian Zeming survived for almost 72 hours on seeds and fruit that had been buried alongside him when a tide of earth and rubble from a huge waste dump crushed more than 30 buildings, rescuers were quoted as saying.

"He has a very strong will to survive," the emergency team's leader told the government-run Shenzhen Special Zone Daily newspaper in the southern Chinese boom town.

The 19-year-old had used a rock to tap on debris to try to attract the attention of those looking for signs of life among the sea of mud.

Images from the scene showed dozens of firefighters and police thronging around a stretcher, apparently bearing the teenager to a waiting ambulance.

He was confirmed to be one of the 76 listed as officially missing after the disaster, the Guangdong province fire department said.

A second man who was also found alive in the debris early Wednesday died several hours later, firefighters said.

Source: MENA