CHENGDU-- An Australian hiker has disappeared in a mountainous area in southwest China's Sichuan Province, said a source with the provincial mountaineering association on Sunday.

The family of Linden Mayer, 47, had heard nothing from him since e-mailed them on May 2 when he was hiking near Minya Konka, a scenic mountain in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Ganzi, said Gao Min, vice secretary-general of Sichuan Mountaineering Association.

The association has published a notice on Friday to alert locals to Mayer's disappearance, said Gao, adding a search had been launched and his family was traveling to Sichuan.

Minya Konka -- Tibetan for "highest snow-capped mountain" -- attracts both tourists and mountaineers to its soaring peaks and panoramic scenery. It has more than 20 peaks above 6,000 meters, the highest at 7,556 meters.