The landslide occurred around noon (0900 GMT) on a city beach in Sebastopol in the Crimea, when some 600 cubic meters (21,000 cubic feet) of soil came crashing down onto the beach below, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry told AFP.

One person was killed as a result, said a top Sebstopol city official.

"The corpse of a 16-year-old has been pulled out," Serhiy Ivanov, the chief of Sebastopol city administration, told AFP by telephone.

According to preliminary information, around 10 people were on the beach at the time. Five were reported to have been pulled out alive and rescuers were searching for others, the emergencies ministry said.

Nearly 100 rescuers were participating in the search.