12 dead, 11 missing as heavy rains cause havoc in China

Beijing: At least 12 people have been killed and 11 others are missing in a landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province, local officials said.

As of today, rescuers had found 12 bodies from the village of Sanxi in Dujiangyan City where a landslide had occurred yesterday.

Local authorities are continuing to verify the exact number of those missing. Search and rescue work is under way, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

The landslide was believed to be triggered by rainstorms. According to local officials, at least 11 other people remain missing after the landslide buried 11 homes in the region.

"It has affected an area of about 2 kilometers, with over 1.5 million cubic meters of mud, rock and debris covering the space," said Qiao Jianping, a researcher with the Institute of Mountain and Environment under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

China has been hit by heavy rainfall in recent days, including most of Sichuan, where three bridges have collapsed since Monday.

Meanwhile, the country's National Meteorological Center (NMC) continues to maintain its orange alert for Typhoon Soulik, the second-highest level on its four-tier typhoon warning system.

Soulik is moving toward sea waters east of Taiwan at 20 km per hour, and is expected to hit or pass the waters off Taiwan early Saturday morning, the NMC said.

It is then expected to head towards waters off the Chinese mainland's coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian.

Influenced by Soulik, the southeastern part of the East China Sea will experience scale 8-10 winds today. In view of this, the NMC has called warned ships to return to port.