An Australian hiker has disappeared in a mountainous area in southwest China's Sichuan Province, said a source with the provincial mountaineering association on Sunday.

The family of Linden Mayer, 47, had heard nothing from him since he e-mailed them on May 2 when he was hiking near Minya Konka, a scenic mountain in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Ganzi, said Gao Min, vice secretary-general of Sichuan Mountaineering Association.

The association has published a notice on Friday to alert locals to Mayer's disappearance, said Gao, adding a search had been launched and his family was traveling to Sichuan.

Minya Konka -- Tibetan for "highest snow-capped mountain" -- attracts both tourists and mountaineers to its soaring peaks and panoramic scenery. It has more than 20 peaks above 6,000 meters, the highest at 7,556 meters.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2007)