A Chinese soldier drowned on Friday in a river in Northeast China's Jilin province as he sought to retrieve chemical barrels that had been swept into the waterway, military authorities said on Sunday.

Guan Xizhi, chief of staff for the corps of engineers based at Shenyang Military Command, was carried away by floodwater on the Songhua River near Hadashan Dam, Songyuan city. His body was found on Saturday.

More than 7,000 barrels, 3,600 of which contain 160 kg of flammable liquid, surfaced in the Songhua River on Wednesday morning after the warehouses of two chemical companies in Jilin city, Jilin province, were hit by flooding.

Having been assigned to emergency rescue command, Guan and his corps of engineers immediately rushed to the site after three days of fighting floods on little sleep.

Tragedy struck on Friday, when Guan and four other soldiers were chaining boats together to block the downstream passage of the barrels when a flash flood struck. The five were forced to jump into the rushing water. Everyone but Guan was rescued.

Guan had been in the army for 19 years. He was rewarded as "Outstanding Commander" in 2008 and was highly respected in the army for his integrity and selflessness.

More than 6,300 of the 7,138 barrels had been recovered by 4 pm on Sunday, according to a statement on the provincial government's website.

In a separate incident, two young soldiers, Liu Lei, 21, and Li Shouxin, 26, died after being carried away by flood currents on Thursday in Jilin province.

Liu and Li were part of a task force sent to rescue villagers trapped on the other side of the Nianzigou reservoir in Yongji county on July 29. Their boats became entangled in floating trash and turned over. Everyone on board fell into the water and the others were rescued.

The dead soldiers were honored as martyrs and rewarded first-class merit citations.

Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain have left more than 100 people dead or missing in Northeast China's Jilin province over the past ten days, local civil affairs officials said Sunday.

More heavy rain is expected in the province over the next two days, according to local weather forecasters.