Beijing  - Strong aftershocks caused landslides, mudslides and rockfalls that killed more than 200 road workers in the last few days as they were trying to restore routes to isolated villages in China's quake-hit south-western province of Sichuan, the transport ministry said on Monday.

Two excavators and six other vehicles were also lost in the landslides, the ministry reported, as state media said troops and rescue services had still not reached 77 villages hit by last week's earthquake.

Troops and paramilitary police had reached 3,592 villages in Sichuan and neighbouring regions by Sunday evening but 77 were still out of reach because of transportation and telecommunication problems", Liu Qibao, the provincial head of the ruling Communist Party was quoted as saying.

Another aftershock measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale hit Sichuan's Qingchuan county on Monday afternoon, one of more than 20 aftershocks of 5.0 or higher to hit Sichuan since an 8.0-magnitude quake devastated the province last Monday. (dpa)