Shanghai — At least 34 people have been killed and hundreds more are missing after a burst dam caused a huge landslide in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi.

A torrent of mud more than 656 yards wide, almost two miles long, and up to 21 yards deep was unleashed after torrential rainstorms on Monday.

The waste iron ore reservoir at the Tashan mine in Linfen overflowed into the surrounding valley, burying hundreds of people and swallowing up a village.

A three-story office building, an enclosed market, and several houses were buried. Parked cars were swept away in the landslide.

More than 1,100 police, firefighters, and soldiers are searching through the rubble, according to state press outlets. Their efforts were hampered by continuing rainstorms and difficult terrain, however.

“We’re busy trying to rescue people but it’s very hard work with all the mud and rocks,” the local communist party secretary in the adjacent town of Chongshi, Hu Yanzai, said. “It’s hard to estimate how many died. It’s all mud and we don’t know how many escaped. I’d estimate at least 100 [dead]. It’s a big area. I feel numb,” he added.

“‘It was terrible, the mud roared down the valley and washed away the market and houses in a few minutes,” a migrant worker, Wei Guanghui, said to the China Daily newspaper.

Nine people, including the owner of the mine have been arrested, pending an investigation into the cause of the mudslide.

“Our preliminary investigation found that this accident was caused by illegal enterprises who discharged waste sand into a mine tailings dam,” deputy work safety chief, Wang Dexue, said to state television.

Several officials, including the local head of the safety office, have already been sacked for failing to spot the pending disaster. Residents of Linfen complained on an internet chatroom hosted by Baidu, the Chinese search engine, that “black-hearted mine bosses make their fortune and leave behind a deadly mess.”