Five workers died in a landslide in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said on Saturday.

The accident occurred around 7:30 AM on Friday in a tunnel construction site in Chongzuo City.

After an overnight rain, rolling stones from the nearby mountain buried a house where workers were sleeping, a municipal land resources bureau official said.

"I was reading a newspaper at that time," said a worker surnamed Li. "The other six were sleeping. Suddenly a colleague shouted 'the mountain is collapsing!' Two of us managed to run out of the room," said Li.

Four of the dead were locals. The other victim was from the neighboring Yunnan Province.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2008)