The landslide happened on Monday morning at 5:51 am (10:51 pm Belgian time) in Liangshui, in the north of the mountainous province of Yunnan. According to state news agency Xinhua, 47 people in eighteen houses were buried under the earth.
“According to preliminary investigations, 44 people from 18 households have been buried,” state broadcaster CCTV said. The broadcaster added that more than two hundred people had been “urgently evacuated”. Xinhua news agency reported that the exact number of victims is still “unknown.”
More than 200 residents were evacuated, TV channel CCTV reported. More than 200 rescue workers with ten excavators and 33 fire trucks were deployed to search the rubble.
Landslides are common in Yunnan, a remote region of China where steep mountain ranges border the Himalayan plateau.