A mud-rock flow triggered by heavy rain on Thursday night killed five people in Ya'an City in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the city authorities told Xinhua on Friday.

They were killed at about 9:30 PM after their car was buried in the mud-rock flow, according to the city government.

All five worked for the Sinohydro Bureau 5, a hydropower development company based here in the provincial capital.

Among the decreased was Zhu Shuzhen, the company's chief engineer, who was leading the group to inspect a construction site.

The city government launched urgent rescue efforts and pulled out the buried car about one hour later but all five were already dead, the city government said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2008)