URUMQI - Five people have been killed and three others left missing after a flood on Sunday in Aheqi County of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Around noon on Sunday, flooding hit Aheqi in Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture of Kizilsu, washing a tractor containing 11 people into a river, said rescuers.

They have recovered five bodies and sent three rescued people to a local hospital.

Local government authorities have sent about 200 people to search for the other three missing people.

Located in the west of Xinjiang, Aheqi County is 1,180 km from the regional capital of Urumqi. It is in the border region of China and Kyrgyzstan.