FUZHOU - Three people have been found dead and?the other?three remained missing Wednesday, a day after a landslide buried a work shed in East China's Fujian province, local authorities said.

Three bodies were retrieved Wednesday while about 300 rescuers were still searching for the missing ones.

An investigation blamed illegal rare earth mining, recent rains and landslide-prone geological conditions for the disaster that occurred at 3:30 pm Tuesday in Longdeyang village of Gutian county, the county government said in a statement.

Local police authorities have launched an investigation into the illegal mining activities.