127 killed and 2,000 missing as mudslides sweep across China

AT LEAST 127 people were killed and nearly 2,000 missing yesterday after mudslides swept away homes and destroyed roads in northwestern China as the nation battled its worst flooding in a decade.

At least one village was buried entirely and deep rivers of sludge and rocks were hampering rescue efforts in the devastated region of Gansu province, where about 45,000 people have been evacuated, the government and state media said.

Authorities have sent more than 4,500 soldiers, police, firefighters and medics to help in search and rescue efforts after the landslides in the remote ethnically Tibetan region, triggered by a deluge of rain late on Saturday.