Landslide in hilly south China kills 46

BEIJING -- The Chinese authorities have pulled out all 46 bodies that were buried and killed by a landslide that swept through a village in the steep, snow-dusted mountains of southern China on Friday, state media reported Saturday.

The landslide smothered 14 homes in Zhaojiagou village in Yunnan province, burying 46 people, the local county government of Zhenxiong said in public statements posted on its official website.

The state-run China Central Television said Saturday that all the bodies had been recovered.

Preliminary investigation blames saturation from more than 10 days of rain and snow for the disaster, said the local county government of Zhenxiong in a statement posted on its official website.

Photos posted on the website of the Yunnan Daily, the official newspaper of the provincial government, showed rescue crews in orange jumpsuits using construction machinery to sift through massive piles of mud and earth. Behind them stood hillsides and pine trees covered in snow, signs of the unusually cold winter that has hit all of China.

Mudslides occur periodically in the region, which is prone to earthquakes and heavy rains. In a nearby county, 81 people died after an earthquake in September. A month later, a landslide buried a primary school, leaving 18 students and one other person dead. (AP)