Chinese officials say at least 141 people are missing and feared dead after heavy rains resulted in a landslide that buried their homes in China.
The rock fall originated from a mountain and fell on around 46 homes in Xinmo village, Mao County in the south-western Sichuan province at around 6 am on Saturday.
There have been difficulties in mounting rescue efforts to find survivors, give immediate relief to victims, or recover bodies, as over a mile of road has also been buried by the landslide.
A Sinchuan Daily newspaper microblog reported that rescuers managed to pull out three people, two of whom had survived. A family of three, with a one-month-old baby, narrowly escaped the landslide before it engulfed their home.
Local rescue official Wang Yongbo said that an estimated 105 million cubic feet of earth and rock had slid down the mountain, which is equivalent to 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
A meteorologist told the state broadcaster that there had been strong rains in the region that may have caused the landslide. The rains are expected to continue for a few days more.
More than 400 people including police officers are involved in the rescue efforts in the hope of saving more lives or recovering the bodies of the unfortunate casualties of the disaster.
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