A major landslide has struck southwest China's Chongqing municipality, burying multiple residential buildings and trapping an unknown number of residents beneath the debris.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that emergency response teams have successfully pulled at least eight survivors from the fractured remains of the structures.
Large-scale search and rescue operations remain urgently under way as teams dig through the rubble for those still missing.
The geological disaster occurred at approximately 9:08 am on Friday within the borders of Pengshui County.
Broadcast footage from the scene captured the moment a significant section of a heavily saturated mountainside gave way entirely.
The cascading earth slammed directly into a cluster of residential properties situated at the foot of the slope.
The state media images showed multiple multi-storey buildings standing precariously close to the edge of the collapse zone.
Dressed in high-visibility protective gear, emergency crews are using heavy machinery alongside manual tools to navigate the unstable pile of pulverised concrete and mud.
The local administration has cordoned off the immediate perimeter to prevent secondary casualties from potential further slope failures.
Pengshui County is located in the southeastern sector of the vast Chongqing municipality.
The mountainous region directly borders China's Hubei and Guizhou provinces, areas that are historically susceptible to severe weather-induced land slips during peak rainy seasons.
