30-40 buried in China landslide: Xinhua

BEIJING: Between 30 and 40 people were buried by a landslide in China on Wednesday, the state news agency Xinhua reported, citing local officials.

The landslide in Zhongxing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, was triggered by heavy rain, it quoted fire brigade sources as saying. Rescuers were at the scene, it added.

Much of China has been hit by heavy rainfall in recent days.

Mountainous regions in the country's southwest are prone to landslides and earthquakes.

A landslide east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa buried 83 mine workers in April when it crushed their camp.

In January 46 people -- many of them children -- were killed in a landslide in Yunnan province, where more than 1,000 rescuers worked in freezing temperatures overnight in search of survivors. (AFP)