About 65 people in southwest China's Guizhou Province are still missing after a landslide early on Friday.

Twenty-five houses were destroyed, in which an estimated 108 people were sleeping when the tragedy took place at around 03:00 AM in the village of Zuojiaying, Nayong County.

Thirty-one people fled the scene and 12 others were rescued later, leaving 65 still unaccounted for.

Leading county officials have sent rescue workers to the village. Yang Guoshun, from the State Production Safety Bureau, was in Guizhou on unrelated matters and also rushed to the scene.

Other rescuers included police and soldiers stationed in Guizhou, headed by the provincial vice governor, Wang Zhengfu.

(Xinua News Agency December 3, 2004)