5 dead, 4 injured in SW China landslide

Rescuers examine a rock before they move it to rescue people buried underneath after a landslide in a village in Zhaotong, Yunnan province, on Friday. At least five people, including two children, were killed and four others injured in the accident. [Photo by Zhang Guangyu/For China Daily]

KUNMING - Five people died and four others were injured in a landslide that buried two houses in a village in Southwest China's Yunnan province on Friday morning, local authorities said.

The landslide occurred around 5 am in Gaoqiao village, Yanjin county, Zhaotong city, a spokesman for the county's Communist Party of China (CPC) committee said, adding that it was triggered by days of heavy rain.

Rescuers had ended their search and rescue efforts by late Friday night, and the injured, including two people in serious condition, have been sent to a local hospital.

China's southwestern regions have been battered by rainstorms in recent days, leading to flooding and landslides that have caused casualties.

In neighboring Sichuan province, a rainstorm-triggered landslide and flooding have left eight people dead and 12 others missing since Thursday morning, local authorities said.