Mudslide kills 23 people in southwestern China

Shanghai, May 26: Mudslides caused by torrential rains have killed 23 people in China's southwestern Sichuan province and left many homeless, the Xinhua news agency reported today.

Twelve of the deaths took place in the province's Jiulong county, while nine people died when a bus was caught in a landslide on a Sichuan highway.

The bus slid down a 10-meter slope after it was hit by a falling rock, Xinhua said.

The agency did not give details of the other two deaths.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has dispatched a rescue team to the province, it said, adding that farms and some roads and bridges had also been damaged.

Ten people are still missing and about 110,000 people in the city of Chongqing alone had been evacuated, Xinhua said.

Reuters>