The disaster occurred in the Hengtaiyu industrial park in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Sunday morning, destroying a total of 22 buildings and causing a gas pipeline explosion.
Shocking video footage from CCTV shows an entire multi-level building collapse in under five-seconds. At first, people are in disbelief, but are then seen running away from the landslide seeking safety.
China's Ministry of Land & Resources has blamed the disaster on a collapse of piled-up construction waste and soil residue in the area, state media said. It also cited a local emergency office giving a sharply increased estimate of the number of people missing. The figure had previously stood at 59.
An area of about 1 million square meters has been buried in soil.
In another video posted by New China TV, the ground is lifted to a 25 degree angle, while a sea of soil drowns everything in its path. People are seen scattering, as a forceful explosion behind one of the buildings blows a mass of black earth into the air.
Local authorities have evacuated over 900 residents from the disaster zone, and more than 1,500 firemen, police officers, and health workers have been dispatched to the area.
Major landslides are not uncommon in China. Last month, 25 people were killed in a landslide in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
#BREAKING At least 91 remain unaccounted in #Shenzhenlandslide, says local emergency office pic.twitter.com/hkrTSYn1Cc
โ CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) December 21, 2015
Comment: See also: 22 missing after landslide in industrial park in Shenzhen China