Latest Chinese mudslides trap 500, kill five

In Asia, Floods & Storms, News Headlines

Mudslides after heavy rain have killed five people and trapped more than 500 in the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan, the Xinhua state news agency said.

The mudslide is the latest in a series of natural disasters to strike China, with another mudslide killing more than 1,000 people in the town of Zhouqu last weekend.

The news agency says the rains started late Thursday (local time) in Mianzhu, close to provincial capital Chengdu.

The area was hard hit during a massive earthquake in 2008 in which at least 80,000 people died.

The landslides have cut off some roads and communications.

The government has dispatched rescue teams, but Xinhua says many people had been evacuated once it became clear how heavy the rains were going to be.

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