Chinese crews have recovered nine bodies and are still searching for 109 others about 30 hours after a massive landslide buried a picturesque mountain village in the south-western province of Sichuan.

More than 2,500 rescuers have arrived in Xinmo village in Mao country to search the rubble for survivors.

Rescuers with search dogs stand near earthmoving equipment as they wait to work at the site of a landslide in Xinmo village in Maoxian County in southwestern China's Sichuan Province (Ng Han Guan/AP)(Ng Han Guan/AP)

The government on Sunday lowered an earlier figure of 15 dead retrieved.

Three people, a couple and their month-old baby, are the only ones rescued from the site on Saturday.

Women watch as earthmoving equipment digs at the site of a landslide in Xinmo village in Maoxian County in southwestern China's Sichuan Province (Ng Han Guan/AP)(Ng Han Guan/AP)

A government-run news outlet said the adults are in a stable condition, while the baby has been sent to an intensive care unit with pneumonia induced by mud inhalation.

Experts on state media said the landslide was probably triggered by rain.