Four people were killed and another was injured in a rain-triggered landslide Wednesday in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

A number of makeshift houses at the foot of the Jinjiling Hill in the scenic city of Guilin remained buried as of Thursday after several hundred tonnes of rocks and dirt gushed down from the mountain at about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday.

Four workers in charge of a cave-digging project in the hill, the project contractor and his wife were in the houses when the accident took place, the city's public security bureau said.

The contractor and three workers were killed. The supervisor's wife broke her leg and was hospitalized. Another worker escaped unharmed.


Rescuers work at the site of a landslide in Jinjiling of Guilin City, southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 5, 2009. A landslide killed 4 people and crashed a few houses on Wednesday night. (Xinhua/Chen Ruihua)
Jiang Mingyi, head of the city's geological environment monitoring station, said ongoing rain over the past few days triggered the landslide and the local karst-landform is prone to mountain collapse in the rainy season.

Li Zhigang, mayor of Guilin who was inspecting the site, ordered an overhaul of work safety risks in the city's mountainous reas.

Source: Xinhua