Landslide in mountainous southwestern China buries 47 people

BEIJING (AP) — A landslide in southwestern China’s mountainous Yunnan province early Monday buried 47 people and forced the evacuation of 200 more.

The disaster struck just before 6 a.m. in the village of Liangshui, under the town of Tangfang in Zhenxiong County. The county publicity department said rescue efforts were underway to find victims buried in 18 separate houses.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. The cause of the landslide wasn’t immediately known, although photos from the scene appeared to show snow on the ground.

The landslide came just over a month after China’s most powerful earthquake in years struck to the northwest in a remote region between Gansu and Qinghai province. At least 149 people were killed in the 6.2-magnitude temblor that struck on Dec. 18, reducing homes to rubble and triggering heavy mudslides that inundated two villages in Qinghai province.

Nearly 1,000 were injured and more than 14,000 homes were destroyed in China’s deadliest earthquake in nine years.