China landslide: 22 buildings collapse in Shenzhen industrial park

Some 1,500 firefighters were sent to the scene in Shenzhen

Some 22 buildings have collapsed in a landslide at an industrial park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

About 900 people have been evacuated, with four people pulled alive from rubble with minor or no injuries, the local government said. No fatalities have yet been reported.

Shenzhen's fire brigade said it was working to free other trapped people.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, two workers' dormitories were among the affected buildings.

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionThe landslide covered about 20,000 sq m

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionIndustrial vehicles were buried and upturned by the moving soil

An area of 20,000 sq m (24,000 square yards) was covered with soil, the Public Security Bureau's firefighting bureau said in an online statement.

Ren Jiguang, the deputy chief of Shenzhen's public security bureau, told CCTV that most people had been moved to safety before the landslide hit.

Some 1,500 firefighters are at the scene, the Guangming New Area Government said on its official page on the Sina Weibo micro-blogging site.

Local media reported that the soil that came loose had been dug up in the past two years in construction work and was piled up nearby.

A statement on Weibo from the Shenzhen municipal government said the landslide had also triggered an explosion at a nearby gas station.

A landslide in the country's Zhejiang province in November killed at least 25 people.