Death toll rises to 18 in southwest China landslide

Rescuers work at the landslide site at Gaopo Village of Zhenxiong County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Jan. 11, 2013. More than 10 residential houses with over 40 people were buried after a landslide happened at the village early Friday morning, according to local officials. Eighteen people have been confirmed dead by now. (Xinhua)

Eighteen people have been confirmed dead, two others injured and dozens more remain buried after a landslide hit a mountainous region in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday, local authorities said.

As of 2 p.m., rescuers had pulled 18 bodies from the mud-inundated debris in Gaopo Village, Zhenxiong County, some 550 km northeast of Yunnan's capital city of Kunming, according to the county's publicity department.

The landslide hit the village around 8:20 a.m., burying the homes of 16 families, a local government official surnamed Wang told Xinhua.

About 40 people are believed to have been buried in the landslide, according to an initial investigation.

Two injured people have been sent to a nearby hospital, but their conditions have not been publicized.

More than 700 rescuers have been sent to the scene, sources said.

A work team led by provincial governor Li Jiheng is on the way to the scene.

The provincial civil affairs department has allocated relief materials such as tents, quilts, food and water to the region, where temperatures are hovering around zero degrees Celsius.

Zhenxiong County is adjacent to Yiliang County, where 19 people, including 18 primary school students, were killed in a landslide in October.

In September, a series of earthquakes -- with the strongest measured at 5.7 magnitude -- struck the region, leaving at least 81 people dead in Yiliang.