More than 400 rescuers were mobilised to search for 41 people missing after a landslide engulfed workers at a construction site in south-eastern China early Sunday, state media reported. A torrent of mud buried a temporary shed used by workers building a power plant in Taining County in Fujian province, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The earth was dislodged by heavy rain, it added.
Xinhua earlier said 34 were missing, and reported President Xi Jinping had urged "maximum efforts" to find survivors.
Deadly landslides are common in China. A landslide in the southern commercial hub of Shenzhen in December, caused by the improper storage of waste, killed at least 58 people, with some 25 still unaccounted for.