CHENGDU, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 rescue workers, including police, fire fighters and local government staff, are searching for a missing hiker on a mountain in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The hiker, an associate professor at Sichuan University, drove to the Zhaogongshan Mountains in Dujiangyan City on Jan. 20. His family reported him missing to police on Monday night.

More than 10 local government staff and residents launched a search the night he was reported missing. They found his car in a parking lot near the mountain.

Over the past few days, hundreds of rescue workers have joined the search. They expanded the search area and used sniffer dogs and helicopters to assist their work, but they had not found the missing hiker as of Thursday afternoon.

The peak of the Zhaogongshan Mountains is 2,434 meters above sea level. It is a popular destination among hikers. It is not the first time for hikers to become lost in the densely forested mountains.

China has seen a spate of accidents involving backpackers in recent years. Last year, two hikers died after they were hit by a snowstorm on Taibaishan mountain in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.