KATHMANDU (AFP) - A landslide triggered by heavy rains killed three in western Nepal, an official said on Friday (May 20), with four people still missing after their hamlet was deluged by water and rocky debris.

Rescue workers are searching for the missing villagers, the official added, while six people who were injured in the landslide, which happened around midnight Thursday, are all receiving medical treatment.

"Torrential rainfall led to flooding of gorges which carried a mixture of rocks and water down a hillside, burying houses on the bottom," said Mr Pradip Shrestha, the top government official in Kalikot district.

"Three people have been killed and four have gone missing... we assume the missing people are buried under mud," Shrestha told AFP.

Scores of people die every year in Nepal from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season, which usually lasts from June through September.