Firefighters sent by the Ministry of Public Security have saved 58 people from rain-triggered landslides in Zhouqu County of northwest China's Gansu Province as of 8:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the ministry.

The fire bureau under the ministry had mobilized a total of 1,180 fire fighters and officers, along with rescue equipment such as life detectors and rubber rafts, to the disaster-hit area from Gansu and neighboring Sichuan Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Meanwhile, another 450 firefighters from the three regions were ready to join the rescue work.

The ministry has ordered traffic control at major roads leading to the mudslides-hit areas to keep the roads smooth for rescue vehicles, reminding individual volunteers trying to help not to drive there by themselves.

By 5 p.m., China's air force has sent three helicopters, two air mapping aeroplanes and a cargo-transport plane from Beijing to an airport in Gansu's Tianshui city, the nearest one to Zhouqu.

Ten more cargo planes are ready to send personnel and relief materials to the disaster-hit area, according to the air force authorities.