Police officials in Shenzhen have allegedly detained a dozen people who may have a hand in the tragic landslide in Shenzhen last week.

Most of the people purportedly placed under investigation are employees of the subcontractor that was managing the dumpsite before its dreadful collapse on Dec. 20. The landslide has left at least seven people dead, while more than 70 remain unaccounted for. So far, there has been only one survivor.

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The public-security bureau revealed on Weibo that police officers have placed the 12 individuals under "coercive measures." No further details were released.

The notification was made after the State Council announced that a thorough investigation into the incident will be conducted and those responsible will be punished accordingly. Experts have since confirmed that the landslide was not the work of nature, but purely an industrial accident.

Although particular individuals were not identified, police affirmed that executives from the subcontractor Shenzhen Yixianglong Investment Development Co. are among the people in custody.

The Wall Street Journal reports that days before the landslide took place, an assigned monitor recommended that the company suspends operation on the site because of safety issues and mediocre work policy. The report by J-star Project Management Co. said that the operator has not totally compressed the soil and noticed "severe" erosion from the months of September to November.

A day after news of the investigation against Yixianglong surfaced, local authorities confirmed the death of an executive surnamed Xu in Guangming New District. He reportedly fell from a building on Sunday in Shenzhen city. 

Authorities have identified the deceased as Xu Yuan'an, the former director of the urban-management bureau in Guangming New District. He was directly responsible for inspecting landfill operations. The government's website confirmed that the bureau was indeed spearhead by Xu until mid-2015. However, police have not found any relation between Xu's suicide and the deadly landslide in Shenzhen.

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