Rescuers pulled six bodies from the debris of two landslides in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Saturday. Nine people are still missing.
After continuous rain, there was a landslide about 8am in Dulong Township in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, a mountainous region that sits on the Sino-Vietnamese border, burying at least 16 workers in a workshop owned by a local stone business.
Rescuers pulled three bodies from the debris in Wenshan County by 9pm on Saturday.
Five workers were injured but eight others remain missing, according to the information office of Wenshan County.
Wenshan County falls under the jurisdiction of Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.
A spokesman with the office said the figures for those who had been buried, and those who are missing were not final. Identities of the dead remained unknown.
The injured have been taken to hospital.
In the second incident, sustained torrential rain over the past few days caused a mud-and-rock flow and landslide in two villages in Malipo County, also in Wenshan prefecture, around 2:40pm on Saturday, leaving three dead, one missing and three injured.
Rescue efforts for those missing are under way in both counties, according to the information of the autonomous prefecture.
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)