Fears grew for 141 people missing in China after a landslide buried their mountain village in southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday, with reports that only three survivors had been pulled out of the mud and rock hours after the calamity struck.
The landslide swept over 46 homes as dawn broke at around 6 am in Xinmo village in Maoxian county, a remote mountainous area of north Sichuan close to the region of Tibet, according to the official Xinhua state news agency.
President Xi Jinping urged on the rescue effort, but state broadcaster CCTV reported that by midday the only people rescued were a couple and their two-month-old baby.
The landslide blocked a two-kilometre stretch of a nearby river, according to Xinhua.
State television reports showed villagers and rescuers scrambling over piles of mud and rocks that had slid down a long steep slope. Xinhua said there were 400 people involved in the rescue effort and six ambulances were at the scene, and more were on their way.
Police have closed roads in the county to all traffic except for emergency services, the news agency said.
(With inputs from Reuters.)
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