One person is dead and six others missing after a ferryboat capsized in central China's Hunan Province early Friday, the local government said.

The boat carrying 38 people from Dongmen Village to Daoxian County seat in Yongzhou City when it capsized at around 6:40 am, county chief Tang Xianglin said.

The boat was designed to carry up to 40 people, Tang said.

He said the boat was overturned by the torrential flow after Thursday night's heavy rain destroyed a dam in the upper reaches. "A survivor said the boat failed to pull into the shore the first time. When it tried again, everyone on board nervously stood up, so the boat lost balance and capsized."

Rescuers recovered one body Friday morning and were still searching for the missing as of 2 p.m.

Most central, southern and eastern Chinese provinces were battered by rain this week. In Hunan's Shuangfeng County, which received 100 mm of rain Thursday, a landslide destroyed 3,800 homes, killing six and leaving one person missing.

Heavy rain also washed away a construction site in the southern Guangdong Province early Friday, killing a worker and injuring two others, the local government said.

Source:Xinhua