[InKunming--Yunnan]  The death toll in a mudslide in southwest China's Yunnan Province has climbed to nine, with eight people still missing, local authorities said on Thursday.

By 5 p.m. on Wednesday, rescuers had retrieved nine bodies from the mudslide in Shawa Village, Fugong County, according to the local publicity department.

The natural disaster struck a silicon mining site at around 3 a.m. last Wednesday.

Rescue staff spent days scouring the Nujiang River about 500 meters away from the site, as the victims were suspected to have been swept into the river. Rescuers are still searching for the remaining people.

Most of Yunnan has entered the annual flood season. As of July 9, more than 110 people in Yunnan had been killed or were missing due to disasters caused by heavy rain, according to the provincial meteorological bureau.

Yunnan is prone to mudslides as more than 90 percent of the province is mountainous.