国内英语新闻:Rain-triggered landslide leaves 3 dead, 2 missing in east China

HANGZHOU, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Three people are dead and two others still buried Friday after a rain-triggered landslide in east China's Zhejiang Province.

The landslide hit Taolin Village of Chun'an County at 5:00 a.m. Friday as villagers were being evacuated from their homes. The area had been pounded by rain since Thursday afternoon, said Tong Xiaowei, deputy county head.

Debris swamped two residential houses, burying six residents and two others assisting with the evacuation, Tong said.

Three of the eight people were injured and were receiving treatment at hospital, Tong said.

About 300 fire fighters, policemen, medical personnel and villagers had joined in the rescue work, he said.

Provincial meteorological authorities forecast Thursday that heavy rain would persist for another week. Chun'an County was among the worst hit by the rain.

Also Friday, rescuers from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region recovered the bodies of three people from rubble after a rainstorm damaged two homes in Dongma Village of Rongshui Miao Autonomous County around 3 a.m., according to the county's flood control and drought relief headquarters.

In the far west Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, an exploration worker was suffocated to death Thursday after he was buried by a rain-triggered landslide on a hill in Qira County, said a spokesman with the county government Friday.

At around 2:40 p.m. Thursday the landslide of mud-and-stone hit a tent where five exploration workers with the Xinjiang Xindi Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. were taking a rest, said the spokesman.

Four workers managed to escape while one was found dead after being dug out half an hour later, he said.

The civil affairs bureau in northern Hebei Province said Friday a thunderstorm with sporadic hail hit Zhangjiakou City from Wednesday to Thursday, leaving two dead and three missing.

The storm hit six counties in Zhangjiakou, with 56,200 residents suffering losses and hundreds of houses collapsing. The rainstorm damaged roads and bridges, and about 7,000 hectares of farmland have been submerged.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs said, by 4 p.m. Friday, the heavy rains that began pounding south China Sunday had left 69 dead, 44 missing and forced the evacuation of 493,000 people in Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The rainstorms had caused direct economic losses of 6.5 billion yuan (952 million U.S.dollars), it said.