Early on Monday, a landslide in the hilly Yunnan province of southwest China resulted in the deaths of 44 people and the forced evacuation of 200 more.

In Zhenxiong County, the accident occurred in the village of Liangshui, which is under the town of Tangfang, shortly before six in the morning. Rescue operations were ongoing, according to the county publicity department, to locate victims buried in eighteen different residences.

No early reports of fatalities or injuries were made. While images from the location seemed to show snow on the ground, the reason of the landslide was not immediately established.

The avalanche occurred a little more than a month after the strongest earthquake to strike China in recent memory occurred in a remote area northwest of Gansu and Qinghai province. The Dec. 18 earthquake, which had a magnitude of 6.2, destroyed homes, caused severe mudslides that flooded two villages in Qinghai province, and claimed at least 149 lives.

China saw its worst earthquake in nine years, with over 14,000 dwellings destroyed and almost 1,000 injured.

End//voice7news.tv