Flood traps over 1,000 teachers, students in SW China

More than 1,000 students and teaching staff of a middle school in southwest China were trapped by floods after rainstorms triggered by Typhoon Haiyan swept the area, rescuers said Tuesday.

Torrents inundated the No.1 Middle School of Sanli township in Guigang city, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region at 7:03 a.m. on Tuesday, with floodwaters reaching 1.5 meters deep.

All of those trapped in the school buildings have been moved to the second floor or higher, and rescue operations are underway.

Downpours lashed Guangxi as Haiyan reached the region on Monday morning.

The heavy rains have left one dead and affected nearly one million people in Guangxi. Some 25,000 people were displaced and 249 houses collapsed.

Haiyan has left six people dead in China, including four people in Hainan Province who died after being injured by fallen window glass or walls, and two members of a seven-person crew on a Guangxi-registered cargo ship. The ship's mooring rope broke Sunday. Two bodies were retrieved on Monday, and five remain missing.