BEIJING: Seventeen people were confirmed dead and 44 others were missing after torrential rains triggered landslides in southwest China on Tuesday, a local official and state media said.

In Yunnan province, four people were killed and 42 others went missing when a mountain side came crashing down on a local township in the city of Zhaotong, a local official told AFP.

"The township is located in a river valley surrounded by mountains, people were buried in their homes," said the official from Qiaojia county, who asked not to be named.

"Torrential rains caused the landslides," he added.

Another 53 people were injured in the disaster, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

In neighbouring Sichuan province, two separate landslides left 13 people dead and two missing, the report said.

The disasters are the latest in a recent spate of rain-related deaths in China.

At least 567 flood-related deaths have been recorded in China so far this year, with 251 people listed as missing, according to government data.

Recent heavy downpours in central and eastern China have caused water levels in major lakes and some river tributaries to rise alarmingly as the region recovers from widespread deadly flooding caused by torrential rains last month.

BDST: 1429 HRS, July, 2010

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