Rescuers carry a miner pulled out from a tin mine who had been trapped after a dam at the mine collapsed due to a landslide in Songtao County, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept 26, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

However, water discharged from the dam has been tested to have no harmful chemicals, sources with Guangdong provincial environmental protection authorities said.

According to Hong Kong-based Takungpao, several managers of the Xinyi mine have been held by police to provide assistance in the investigation.

"It is a human-made disaster rather than a natural one. The mine should be blamed for the disaster," a local villager surnamed Li told the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily.

Floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fanapi have so far claimed 75 lives in Guangdong province, with some 61 still missing, local authorities said on Sunday.

Typhoon Fanapi was the 11th and the strongest to hit the country so far this year, battering most of the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong provinces with heavy rains and strong winds last week.