A large landslide has occurred in China’s south-western municipality of Chongqing, trapping people under rubble and damaging residential buildings.
The landslide took place in Pengshui, on the banks of the Wujiang River, on Friday morning.
Eight people trapped by the landslide have been rescued, and none are reported to be in life-threatening condition.
It is still unknown whether there have been any deaths.
The ABC has verified footage from the scene showing massive boulders lying over a buried roadway surrounded by collapsed buildings, including houses.
People can also be seen running from the scene.
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State media says the Ministry of Emergency Management has deployed 100 people to help with the search and rescue effort.
Another 200 fire rescue crew members are also being deployed to the scene.
A witness to the landslide, Mr Xie, who owns an auto repair shop in the area, told ABC News he saw boulders falling down the mountainside about 8:30am.
“I was about 50 metres from the scene,” he said.
“I saw cars and some people were standing there [when the landslide happened]. They are all buried now. Many houses have collapsed.“
Mr Xie said he ran from the scene and did not know what happened to his business, or house.
He said he did not know if he had a place to live.
“The situation was quite intense and fierce,” he said.
“It was very scary. Everything is covered in dust, buried underground.”
Another witness, Mr Dou, told ABC News he saw at least two rows of houses damaged or buried.
He said he fled the area after becoming worried a nearby gas station would explode.
“It’s terrifying and the area is huge — none of us knew what to do,” Mr Dou said.
“I saw a transformer near the riverbank, with the high-voltage lines already down.
“I jumped out and ran because it wasn’t far from the gas station and I was worried it would cause the gas station to explode, which would be bad.”
Residents of Pengshui, a mountainous area where communities are often concentrated along riverbanks, told the ABC they had experienced heavy rain over the past several days.
Public records also show high temperatures and thunderstorms in the area in the days leading up to the disaster.
In May, a landslide in Yongchuan, also in Chongqing, left nine people dead and 11 missing.
