A CHINESE grandmother has died while shielding her 15-month-old granddaughter from being crushed by a landslide that toppled their house around them.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV played footage of rescuers in southwestern China's Sichuan province retrieving the child from the rubble of her home after being trapped for seven hours.

Rescuers described how the child's grandmother, Pan Guofen, apparently used her body to protect the child against a large concrete slab, forming an arch by kneeling on all fours, her hands clenched into fists.

The child was safely ensconced under the arch but her grandmother's head was crushed by a brick and did not survive, the reports said.

Torrential rain has triggered floods and landslides in Sichuan and other parts of China in recent days.

