At least 10 people were killed and two were reported missing as a mud-rock flow hit a hydropower station in southwest China late Friday.

An unexpected mud-rock flow triggered by rainstorms hit a hydroelectric power station under construction in Shimian County of Ya'an City in Sichuan Province at midnight on Friday, according to the disaster-relief office of the provincial government.

A group of construction workers were engulfed by the mud-rock flow on their way to escape. Three were injured.

About 150 soldiers and police officers are searching for the missing.

Rainstorms and downpours have lashed 11 counties within hours as of early Saturday morning, with the maximum rainfall reaching 100 mm.

More thunderstorms or showers are expected to hit seven cities and the southwestern part of Sichuan, according to weather forecast.

China has suffered from abnormal and extreme weather conditions leading to fatal floods, landslides and lingering drought in a number of provinces this year, which left 1,279 people dead and 239 others missing in the first seven months, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2007)