One person was confirmed dead and 10 missing after a massive landslide Saturday smashed Xiazhuang village in mountainous Wenchuan county, Xinhua news agency reported.

The landslide downed powerlines, destroyed farmland and left a 50-meter (yard) section of a national highway buried in debris, the report said.

Some 60 families in the village were affected and the provincial government dispatched a disaster relief team to the region.

In a separate incident, four people travelling in two vehicles were killed Saturday when they were buried in a landslide in Xiangyan township, Pingwu county, Xinhua said in another report.

As of August 1 more than 300 people have been killed in landslides and mud flows so far this year, largely because of a marked increase in rainfall especially in mountainous regions of southwestern China.

TERRA.WIRE