Two tourists were killed and two more are missing, including an American woman, after a horror plunge from a waterfall in Myanmar.

The holidaymakers were swimming in a natural pool on the 400ft high Ohn Chaw Waterfall in Mandalay when the river surged, dragging five of them over the edge on Monday afternoon.

Russian national Andrei, 43, survived when the torrent wedged him between rocks, but two Burmese women were killed as they were hurled over the falls, smashing onto boulders on the third level of the beauty spot.

Two more women - a Burmese national and an American - were reported missing.

Firefighters rushed to the scene after being notified at around 3 pm local time. They found Andrei groaning in pain after suffering a broken right leg, while the two deceased were discovered at 4:30 pm.

An official from the Tha-Yar-Maung social assistance association said: 'The two missing persons are also said to be women. They were playing in the water when a mountain stream surge came down and swept them away.

'In our area, when the mountain stream flows, it comes down in large volumes. They were in the water when the current wasn't very heavy yet. But later, it came down in full force while they were still in the water, and they were carried away. We heard they were swimming at the eighth tier. They were swept down by the force of the water to the third tier.

'As far as we know, the group includes foreigners. There may be Russians. Of the two women currently missing, one is said to be American and the other is said to be Burmese.'

He added that while there have been ordinary drowning incidents at the Eight-Tier Waterfall before, it was the first time tourists were swept away due to a river surge.

Rescuers strapped Andrei onto a rescue board as they made the treacherous descent down the mountain. He was rushed to the Pyin Oo Lwin Hospital for treatment.

Officers combed the falls until 8 pm, when the search was suspended due to poor visibility. The search for the missing women efforts will resume today, they said.

The Myanmar Fire Service Department said the tour group consisted of 14 people, including Russian and American citizens.

Ohn Chaw Waterfall is found near the village of the same time, midway between Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin on the road linking the two towns.

There are up to eight tiers that plunge into a canyon, and it can take hikers around two hours to reach the summit. On the different tiers are stunning natural pools where visitors can bathe in the clear mountain water.