Kulalumpur, Dec. 16: At least 16 people including children have been killed after a landslide enveloped a holiday campsite in Malaysia's Selangor state, officials say.

Families were sleeping in their tents when a landslide happened around 03:00 Friday (19:00 GMT Thursday) at a farm stay in Batang Kali township.

Hundreds of rescuers spent Friday digging through mud to find survivors.

More than 90 people had been staying at the base.

Local media reported the farm's managers saying at least 30 children and 51 adults had been registered for an overnight stay.

The landslide began up a slope more than 30m (100ft) higher than the campsite, and rolled through an acre of land.

Pictures posted online by Malaysia's rescue agencies showed crews of helmeted workers clambering up uneven ground, past uprooted trees and other debris.

By Friday afternoon, authorities had rescued more than 60 people but 17 were still missing, they said. Local media reported at least one child, a 5-year-old boy, had died.

One camper Teh Lynn Xuan said she and her mother had survived, but her brother had died and another brother had been taken to hospital with injuries.

"We felt the tents becoming unstable and soil was falling around us," she told Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian.

"My mother and I managed to crawl out and save ourselves."

She had been camping with a big group of more than 40 people, she said.

Another survivor, Leong Jim Meng, said he heard an explosion before the ground began to shift.

That had woken him and his family, who were briefly trapped in their tents by debris before managing to get out.

"It was too dark to see clearly what was happening," he said.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was due to arrive at the site later on Friday, following visits from several other government ministers.

He offered condolences to the victims and prayers for more survivors on his Facebook page.

It's unclear what triggered the landslide, which happened in a forested hilly area next to the side of the road in Batang Kali, close to the holidaying Genting Highland region and about 50km (30 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur.

Locals reported there had been some light rain, but no heavy downpours or any earthquakes in the lead up to it.

On Friday afternoon, authorities also issued an order for the evacuation of all campgrounds on riverbanks and other high-risk areas for the next seven days.-Agencies