A rain-triggered landslide struck the outskirts of Chongqing, a major municipality in southwestern China, early Friday morning, killing at least eight people and leaving 34 others missing after massive amounts of rock and soil collapsed onto a residential area. The disaster, which occurred at around 9:08 a.m. local time in Pengshui County, buried more than ten residential buildings and forced more than 1,100 residents to evacuate. Ten people were rescued from the debris, including two who sustained serious injuries.

Pengshui County lies in the southeastern part of the Chongqing municipality, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou, in a rugged karst landscape — a terrain of porous limestone rock that forms steep cliffs, gorges and river valleys. The landslide occurred near the Wujiang River, which cuts through this mountainous region. Images broadcast by state television showed part of a mountainside collapsing onto homes, with large slabs of rock sliding down beside buildings into the waterway below. Two multi-storey buildings, one roughly five and another roughly fifteen storeys high, were visibly damaged but remained standing.

Over 800 rescuers were deployed to the scene, equipped with more than 50 sets of search and detection equipment, while excavators worked to clear rubble around the damaged apartment blocks. Rescue efforts were complicated by the unstable terrain and the risk of secondary collapses, authorities said. Water, electricity and gas supplies were cut off within a one-kilometre radius of the landslide site as a precautionary measure. More than 8,000 emergency relief items — including tents, folding beds and family emergency kits — were dispatched to support displaced residents. Chinese President Xi Jinping called on authorities to determine the cause of the disaster.

The landslide is a stark reminder of the recurring danger posed by heavy summer rainfall in southwest China's mountainous regions. The area's steep karst terrain is highly susceptible to rain-induced slope failures, and deadly landslides are a regular occurrence during the summer rainy season. Rescue operations were continuing, with teams combing through the debris in search of the dozens still unaccounted for.