More than 2,000 people who had been trapped in a highway tunnel in southwest China's Sichuan Province have been rescued and relocated, local authorities said on Wednesday evening.

A rain-triggered landslide closed a section of Duwen Highway which connects Dujiangyan City and Wenhuan County in Sichuan at around 10 a.m. and trapped more than 2,000 people in No.1 Taoguan Tunnel, according to the emergency management office of Wenchuan.

The trapped people were out of reach for hours before local government resumed contact with them in the evening, according to the office.

By 9 p.m. all the trapped people were rescued and transported to Wenchuan County seat safely, it added.

Meanwhile, 247 residents who had previously been stranded in Zhangjiaping Village of Yingxiu Town because of rain-triggered floods have been relocated, said the local government.