Houses buried as landslip kills 16

Eastern village hit by heavy rains, causing more than 300 to flee their homes

A landslip that engulfed homesin eastern China has killed at least 16 people, with 21 still missing, as heavy rains brought misery across a swathe of the country.

Photos posted on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, showed rescue teams working through the night as they attempted to pull people from mud and rock that had buried 27 houses in Zhejiang province.

More than 300 people were evacuated after the landslip struck on Friday evening, with 21 additional homes flooded in the wake of the disaster, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Meanwhile, the central province of Hunan was hit by the worst winter flooding in more than 50 years, the official Xinhua news agency reported, forcing thousands to flee.

OPERATION: Rescue teams work to pull victims from mud that engulfed 27 homes in the Lishui village in Zhejiang province