China landslide toll rises to 42

A landslide in China's southern Yunnan province has left at least 42 people dead and several homes buried, state media says.

Officials said 42 bodies had been found, out of a total of 46 who were missing after the landslide. Two people were pulled alive, but injured, from the wreckage.

Rescue efforts were continuing, though officials said the likelihood of any success was receding, especially given plummeting temperatures. The ground continued to shift as rescuers worked, which put them in danger as well.

"The rescue is very problematic and dangerous," wrote a Chinese journalist at the scene on the official website of Yunnan province. "Huge amounts of earth continue to shift."

Multiple homes in the region have been evacuated due to fears of further landslides. It is not known how many people are temporarily homeless due to the move.

Provincial authorities have arranged for tents, blankets, food and drinking water to be delivered to the area, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The landslide hit the village of Gaopo, destroying 14 houses and damaged another two in the village, 547km northeast of the provincial capital, Kunming.

"We don't know for sure what caused the landslide," a police official told the German news agency DPA. "At the moment, we are occupied with the search for the missing."

The region was hit by a series of earthquakes, some hitting a magnitude of 5.7, in September. At least 81 died in the neighbouring region of Yiliang then. Another 19 died, also in Yiliang, in an October landslide.