Beijing, Aug 31 (IANS): One person was killed while 17 tourists were trapped Saturday in a landslide triggered by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake in China, authorities said.

The earthquake jolted southwest China at 8.04 a.m., Xinhua cited the China Earthquake Networks Center as saying.

Three people were injured. The 17 tourists in three buses were trapped in a landslide that blocked a road in Yunnan province.

The epicentre was monitored at 28.2 degrees north latitude and 99.4 degrees east longitude, in an area bordering the counties of Shangri-La, Deqen of Yunnan province and Derong county of Sichuan province, with a depth of about 10 km.

Telecommunication network in Benzilan township, believed to be the epicentre, has been cut off, officials said.

The quake and aftershocks triggered several landslides, which blocked traffic on roads.

Authorities have sent tents, clothes, quilts, folding beds and mattresses to the disaster-hit areas.