Traffic on a highway linking Tibet to the neighboring province of Sichuan came to a halt on Tuesday for the second time this month, following a landslide triggered by heavy rain.

No casualties were reported in the pre-dawn landslide.

More than 20,000 cubic meters of dirt and rocks fell from a roadside mountain, covering a 100-meter section in Bomi County, eastern Tibet, of the Sichuan-Tibet highway, according to Chen Jun, chief of an armed police detachment in charge of road repair.

Traffic police cordoned off vehicles up to 80 km away.

It was the second time this month that a major mudflow halted traffic on the highway. The road had only reopened on Sept. 4 after 94 hours of repairs from an earlier mudflow.

Since June, the start of the rainy season in eastern Tibet, constant rain has hit the region and caused nearly 100 minor landslides and road collapses.

Soldiers are clearing the blocked section despite the rain, and the road is expected to reopen in three days.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2008)