Floods and landslides have killed at least 26 people since July 4 in China, due to heavy rainstorms hitting northwestern and southwestern provinces of the country.

A heavy rainstorm hit Zhaotong City of southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday and Friday, leaving 16 people dead, said Zhaotong government sources on Saturday.

The rainstorm has affected the lives of more than 340,000 people in Zhaotong, damaging 7,000 hectares of croplands and collapsing hundreds of houses, according to the sources.

Last Sunday, the city reported that 11 people were dead, six missing and 22 injured after a continuous rainstorm hit many parts of the city in late June.

Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 8 after a landslide washed away a camp of oil workers Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province.

On Saturday morning, rescuers confirmed that the bodies of two more oil workers have been recovered in the Qingxi Oil Field in Yumen City, Wang Zhigao, deputy director of Yumen Civil Affairs Bureau, told Xinhua on Saturday.

One oil worker is still missing and 15 are injured, two seriously, said Wang.

The workers were from the Tuha Oil Field in neighboring Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Jiangsu Oil Field in East China's Jiangsu Province.

All the injured are hospitalized and out of critical condition, said Wang, adding that rescuers are still searching for the missing man.

Two township officials in northwest China's Shaanxi Province were washed away by floods Tuesday on their way back to the seat of Shiliping Town to report damages caused by rainstorms, which hit the town Monday and Tuesday, according to the township government sources.

The body of Tian Jianfeng, a cadre in charge of forestry in Shiliping Town was found Tuesday. Rescuers discovered the body of Hu Congbao, a cadre in charge of stockbreeding, near a river on Friday.

People in seven villages around the town were affected by the 151-millimeter rainfall, but no casualties were reported among the villages, said the sources.

 (Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2006)