More than 40 people were dead Friday after hundreds of metres of hillside in south-western China collapsed in the early hours, burying multiple homes, officials said.
Officials said 42 bodies had been found, out of a total of 46 who had gone missing after the landslide. Two people were pulled alive, but injured, from the wreckage.
Rescue efforts were continuing, though officials said the likelihood of any success was receding, especially given plummeting temperatures. The ground continued to shift as rescuers worked, which put them in danger as well.
"The rescue is very problematic and dangerous," wrote a Chinese journalist at the scene on the official website of the regional province, Yunnan. "Huge amounts of earth continue to shift."
Multiple homes in the region have been evacuated due to fears of further landslides. It is not known how many people are temporarily homeless due to the move.
However, concerns about their safety are in the forefront, since local temperatures are around zero, unusual for south-west China. Provincial authorities have arranged for tents, blankets, food and
drinking water to be delivered to the area, reported Xinhua.
The landslide hit the village of Gaopo at 8:20 am (0020 GMT), the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The landslide destroyed 14 houses and damaged another two in the village, 550 kilometres north-east of the provincial capital, Kunming, county police said.
"We don't know for sure what caused the landslide," a police official told dpa by phone. "At the moment, we are occupied with the search for the missing."
The region was hit by a series of earthquakes, some hitting a magnitude of 5.7, in September. At least 81 died in the neighbouring region of Yiliang then. Another 19 died, also in Yiliang, in an
October landslide.