BEIJING, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A 100-metre (330 ft) stretch of the Yangtze river's bank collapsed in eastern China on Saturday, sending some 10 warehouses and several cranes into the river, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

The landslide happened near the city of Wuhu in Anhui province, which lies roughly 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Nanjing, capital of the relatively prosperous province of Jiangsu on the eastern seaboard.

Wuhu lies hundreds of km (miles) downstream from the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, which officials have said would help control flooding in downstream areas.

Xinhua cited a local official as saying the collapse could have been caused by a vortex of water. It said others believed construction at a nearby shipyard might have loosened the foundations of a dyke and caused the collapse.

No casualties were reported, but an elderly couple was saved from a barge before it crashed into the water. (Reporting by Jason Subler; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

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