Rescue workers pull out Cao Lele, who was buried by a landslide for about 54 hours, in Shuanghuyu village, Shuanghuyu town, Zizhou county in northwest China’s Shaanxi province at 7:22 am on March 12, 2010. The severe landslide occurred about 1:30 am on March 10, and left 44 people in 25 houses buried under thick earth. The number of people killed in the landslide rose to 23 by Thursday.

The number of people killed in a landslide in Shaanxi province has risen to 23, with five people still listed as missing.

Ji Youbo, an official with the government of Zizhou county, Shaanxi province, said rescue workers removed more bodies from the collapsed houses today.

The disaster happened at about 1:30 am on Wednesday, and left 44 people in 15 houses buried under thick earth in Shuanghuyu village.

"We have now found a total of 33 people in houses destroyed by the landslide, and six of those people were uninjured and eight are still being treated in a local hospital," Ji said.

Wang Xiongwei, a senior doctor at the hospital treating the injured people, said all of the patients are in stable condition and three suffered broken bones.

Jing Wenmei, 42, said that she was playing an online game on her computer at the time the landslide hit, and that it sounded like a large explosion.

"I soon woke up my son and we broke the window glass so we could get out of the house. I broke my collar bone but my son was only slightly injured," Jing said from her hospital bed.

According to Ji, the land administrative department has ruled that the landslide was a natural disaster and most likely caused by recent snowfall on the mountain.

"There was snowfall recently in our county and the slope is near a river, so heavy snow and water may have caused the landslide," Ji said.

The official said it had been believed that the mountain was not at risk of landslide and the local government had not received any reports of abnormalities from farmers.