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Four killed, 4 missing in S.China landslides

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-29 19:02

SHENZHEN -- Four people are dead and four are missing after torrential rains triggered landslides in China's southern Guangdong Province on Sunday.

The latest fatalities come on top of the official death toll of 14 announced by the provincial authorities on Saturday.

Three of Sunday's victims were night workers, who were buried at about 2:25 am in a hillside quarry in Longgang district, Shenzhen. They were rescued, but died later in hospital.

Another landslide at 6:30 am in Mumianwan community, Longgang district, damaged four residential buildings, housing 75 people. Sixty-one people managed to escape and 10 were rescued. One of those rescued died on the way to hospital. Rescuers are still searching for the rest four missing.

Tropical storm Fengshen made landfall at Shenzhen early on Wednesday, bringing heavy rains. Rainfall in the city during past five days has reached a record 1,300 millimeters.

A 19-year-old migrant worker surnamed Jia, from Nanchong in Sichuan Province, was reported earlier Sunday to have been killed after falling into the sluice channel of a swollen reservoir in Shenzhen.

He fell into the channel on Saturday. Rescuers found his body three hours later in a nearby fishing pool.

Heavy rains this summer have wrought havoc in China.

From June 6 to 16, nine provinces in China's east, south and southwest had experienced torrential rains, leaving at least 63 dead, 13 missing and 1.6 million people displaced, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.