China landslide topples school, buries 18 students

A landslide in southwestern China has toppled an elementary school building and buried 18 students and another person.

The Chinese government said the landslide struck a village in Yiliang county in Yunnan province on Thursday morning.

A statement on the Yiliang government website says the landslide caused a school to collapse and that 18 students were believed to have been in the building. Another person was trapped when a few houses were toppled.

A county foreign affairs office staffer says the village is a three-hour drive from the county seat and that rescuers have arrived at the site.

The statement says nearby residents have been moved from the area.