Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Sixteen people were killed in a landslide which struck southern Kyrgyzstan, an official from the emergency situations ministry said on Thursday. Emergency situations minister Kamchybek Tashiyev said the landslide hit the village of Raikomol in the southern Jalal-Abad region late on Wednesday night. He cited a village resident as saying 16 people lived in the ruined houses and said there was no immediate word on their fate. Torrential rainfall in recent days has left villages in the mountainous region heavily prone to mudslides. Officials say 20 emergency workers have reached the site and begun clearing debris. Landslides are a frequent occurrence in the Central Asian nation.