Fan Tianyong, president of the People's Hospital of Deyang City, was killed by falling rocks in a landslide while traveling with his medical team to provide voluntary care to residents of the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province.

The landslide in Maoxian county on Thursday afternoon struck 13 cars, killing 10 people and injuring 22 others. The landslide occurred around 2:45 pm on a section of the No 213 National Highway in Maoxian county.

"He would be safe if he hadn't seen a wounded man and gone to help," said Tan Hong, another leader of the hospital, who was also on the medical team.

Tan said Fan saw the man lying on the road when they were running to escape the falling rocks. Fan asked his colleagues to evacuate immediately while he stayed to help.

Fan was hit by rocks on his chest and stomach. He stopped breathing before his colleagues could move him to a safe place.

Fan was performing surgery at the West China Hospital in Sichuan province when a magnitude-8 earthquake hit Wenchuan in 2008. He then volunteered to join the rescue of the wounded in Dujiangyan, a severely hit city in the province.