More rescuers arrive at the landslide site in Suichang county, Zhejiang province, Sep 29, 2016.[Photo by Zhang Yongtao/China Daily]

Zheng Quanwei, 56, was having dinner 200 meters away from the scene when he heard a loud noise and ran outside. "It was getting dark, but I could see some collapsed houses on the hillside," he said. "There were still some noises."

Video footage from the scene shows debris cascading down the hill around 5:28 p.m. as a landslide engulfed the hillside and people screamed in terror.

"The rocks were flowing down like water. I was running so fast that I even lost one of my shoes," said survivor 58-year-old Su Guohong. "There were five or six villagers running with me."

Seeing the rocks rolling down the mountain, Pan Zhaoxiang abandoned her housework and ran up the mountainside with a group of people. They did not come down until 7:30 p.m.