At least ten people have died and 30 more are missing after heavy rains and a consequent landslide obliterated a village in southern Peru.

The small rural community of miners in the remote area of Huanchumay far off in the Carabaya province took the brunt of the Monday morning torrential rains and mudslide that left almost no survivors in the area.

"We have 10 dead so far and five wounded. We have no accurate data for the missing but are talking about 30 to 35 missing people," AFP quoted the local Civil Defense official Victor Ibanez as saying.

Rescue efforts are under way to save victims of the landslide.

Carlos Martin, manager and legal adviser of the Huanchumay mine said in a local radio interview, "The whole town is covered with rocks. There is no shelter… [The landslide] has buried everything in its path."

Only 50 people are known to have populated the village.

ARQN/MMA