XINING, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- The fatal landslide that killed seven people in northwest China's Qinghai Province Saturday was caused by earth digging, local authorities said Sunday.

The landslide happened at around 4:20 p.m. in Xinzhai, a mountainous village in Changning township of Datong County.

Nine people were digging for earth to help their relatives, a Liu family in the same village, build a new home when rocks and dust rained down from the mountain, said a press official with the county committee of the Communist Party of China.

Only two of them managed to escape without getting injured, he said.

The seven people who were buried in the rubble, including five women and two men, were confirmed dead after being retrieved four hours later.