Four people have died and another three are missing after a five-story building collapsed in southwest China's Sichuan Province, local authorities said on Monday.

The residential building in Tantong Town in Linshui County collapsed at about 6:20 PM Sunday, according to a statement faxed to Xinhua.

Initial investigations show that eight people were in the riverside building when the accident happened, the statement said.

A 12-year-old schoolboy called Kou Tao survived, suffering minor injuries to the leg, but his elder sister was among the four dead.

Rescuers are still searching for the missing people and an investigation into the cause of the accident has begun.

The statement did not identify the other three dead people or the missing people.

Sources said that the building had been rented out to more than 30 students and business people.

Continuous heavy rain hit the town over the past days, causing cracks to appear in the facade of the building, and on Saturday the owner asked the tenants to move out for fear of collapse. But a few of them did not heed the warning because they had not found any other place to rent.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2007)