EMERGENCY teams in China’s south-western Sichuan province battled today to locate 28 people missing after a rain-triggered landslide killed one person and buried homes.

Nearly 1,000 personnel, including armed police, firefighters and medical professionals, continued to work in the rescue operation following the landslide in the village of Jinping in Junlian county on Saturday. 

Some officers navigated through the remains of collapsed buildings, using drones and life-detection radars to locate any signs of life with the help of local officials who were familiar with the area, broadcaster CCTV said.

They rescued two injured people and evacuated about 360 other people after 10 houses and a manufacturing building were buried, CCTV reported.

At a news conference today, authorities said preliminary assessments attributed the disaster to recent heavy rainfall and local geological conditions. 

They said these factors transformed a landslide into a debris flow, resulting in an accumulation of debris stretching more than half a mile in length, with a total volume exceeding 3.5 million cubic feet.

Chinese vice-premier Liu Guozhong was at the site to guide the rescue operation and visited the affected residents. 

Mr Liu noted that the surrounding slopes still pose a risk of collapse and called for scientific assessment to ensure the safety of the operation and prevent another disaster.