A landslide caused by flooding in central China's Hunan province destroyed a local guesthouse and killed 11 people on Sunday, with at least one person still missing, state media reported.
Official broadcaster CCTV said it had "been initially confirmed that 18 people were buried."
As of Sunday afternoon, 11 bodies and six injured survivors had been recovered, it added.
The landslide was caused by flash flooding on a mountain, according to CCTV.
More than 240 emergency personnel had been dispatched to the scene, with "rescue work continuing urgently", the broadcaster said.
A video published by the state-run Beijing Youth Daily showed a swath of mud and debris cutting through a green hillside, and an uprooted tree lying in front of a three-storey building.
China has suffered a summer of extreme weather, with flash floods in the north and southwest killing at least 20 people earlier this month.
In May, a highway in southern China collapsed after days of rain, leaving 48 dead.
Scientists say climate change is making extreme weather more frequent and intense, and China is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Long dependent on polluting energy sources such as coal, Beijing has pledged to bring emissions of planet-heating carbon dioxide to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060.
It is already the world's largest producer of renewable energy, with research this month showing China is building almost twice as much solar and wind power capacity as the rest of the world combined.
