Thousands trapped by China floods

"We now have at least 72 dead in Sichuan province. Among them 46 are in Dazhou city," an official surnamed Liu at the Sichuan disaster relief bureau told AFP.

"Fifty people are still missing throughout Sichuan," she added.

Dazhou, in the northeast of the province, has been worst hit by the torrential rains that have triggered widespread land{lides and flooding, stranding thousands of people.

Neighbouring Chongqing municipality has also been pummeled by the weather.

"As of this morning there were 34 dead and 33 missing," Chongqing di{aster relief office vice director He Lingyun told AFP, adding that 243 people were injured.

In Yunnan province, one person died and five were missing after being engulfed by mud Tuesday in Yongsheng county, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The floods unleashed by unrelenting rains prompted authorities to put the massive Three Gorges Dam project on alert and close it to shipping for the first time since it began operation in July.

The dam is in Hubei province, to the east of Sichuan and Chongqing, and water flow has surged over the warning levels after the upper reaches of the Yangtze River started flooding, Xinhua said.