Chaos has erupted on Beijing's Tiananmen Square during this week's National Day vacation, as mountains of garbage have been dumped and thousands of visitors have got lost, state media said Wednesday. Tourists to the world-famous square in the heart of the capital have disposed of a massive 40 tonnes of trash every day since the start of the week-long National Day vacation on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.
The situation has forced the city to deploy 400 sanitation workers for round-the-clock duty clearing the square of plastic bags, newspapers, drink and food packages and camera film boxes, it said.
Also since the holiday started, a total of 3,700 people have got separated from friends and relatives on the densely packed square, which is the size of 63 football fields, according to Xinhua.
Long queues have formed in front of the broadcast booths, as unlucky visitors have waited to send messages to their temporarily lost loved ones, the agency said.
On Sunday, an estimated 1.45 million visitors went to the square, the symbol of political power in China, and a similar number arrived on Monday, according to Xinhua.
