State media reported that nine people were killed when "sudden powerful winds" capsized 4 tourist boats in Southwestern China and swept 84 people into water.

The Xinhua News Agency reported that a person was still missing and the search for her was continuing, while 74 other people had been rescued from Guizhou Province.

Xinhua reported that nearly 500 rescue workers had been mobilised by the Chinese president Xi Jinping to deal with this accident. He instructed provincial authorities to do "everything possible" to resolve it.

Xi said that authorities should also enhance safety measures in order to reduce the increasing number of accidents occurring at tourist attractions and public places.

Authorities have sent 70 people rescued in the Sunday afternoon accident to the hospital to be treated for "non-life-threatening conditions", state media said. (Reporting and editing by Clare Jim, Saad Sayeed).

(source: Reuters)