VFS: Unable to mount root fs on z/VM guest on IBM Z s390x

Issue

A cloned image of RHEL 7.9 is unable to boot a z/VM guest on IBM Z s390x.
The same cloned image starts without problems on other z/VM guests on the same host.

The boot sequence fails with the following console messages:

[    7.011606] No filesystem could mount root, tried:                           
[    7.011609] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)                                                                   
[    7.011611] CPU: 1 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 3.10.0-1160.62.1.el7.s390x #1                                                                          
[    7.011613]        0000002ff53f7bb8 0000002ff53f7c48 0000000000000002 0000000
000000000                                                                       
       0000002ff53f7ce8 0000002ff53f7c60 0000002ff53f7c60 000000000075645e      
       0000000000000000 00000000009415da 00000000009223c4 000000000000000b      
       0000002ff53f7ca8 0000002ff53f7c48 0000000000000000 0000000000000000      
       0000000000773428 00000000001175dc 0000002ff53f7c48 0000002ff53f7ca8      
[    7.011620] Call Trace:                                                        
[    7.011621] ([<00000000001174b0>] show_trace+0x108/0x160)                    
[    7.011627]  [<000000000011758c>] show_stack+0x84/0x108                      
[    7.011628]  [<000000000075623e>] panic+0x10e/0x2c0                          
[    7.011630]  [<0000000000bbb0ee>] mount_block_root+0x2ae/0x2b0               
[    7.011633]  [<0000000000bbb2da>] prepare_namespace+0x17a/0x1b8              
[    7.011634]  [<0000000000bbac96>] kernel_init_freeable+0x27e/0x2a0           
[    7.011635]  [<000000000074eadc>] kernel_init+0x3c/0x128                     
[    7.011638]  [<000000000076550e>] kernel_thread_starter+0x6/0x10             
[    7.011642]  [<0000000000765508>] kernel_thread_starter+0x0/0x10                                              

Subsequent attempt to boot fails with:

[   11.861376] EXT4-fs (dm-2): ext4_check_descriptors: Block bitmap for group 11
2 overlaps superblock                                                           
[   11.861378] EXT4-fs (dm-2): ext4_check_descriptors: Inode bitmap for group 11
2 overlaps superblock                                                           
[   11.861379] EXT4-fs (dm-2): ext4_check_descriptors: Inode table for group 112
overlaps superblock                                                            
[   11.861380] EXT4-fs (dm-2): ext4_check_descriptors: Checksum for group 112 fa
iled (50965!=0)                                                                 
[   11.861381] EXT4-fs (dm-2): ext4_check_descriptors: Block bitmap for group 11
3 overlaps superblock                                                           
[   11.861382] EXT4-fs (dm-2): ext4_check_descriptors: Inode bitmap for group 11
3 overlaps superblock                                                           
[   11.861383] EXT4-fs (dm-2): ext4_check_descriptors: Inode table for group 113
overlaps superblock                                                            
[   11.861384] EXT4-fs (dm-2): ext4_check_descriptors: Checksum for group 113 fa
iled (4932!=0)                                                                  

[ [32m  OK   [0m] Started Cleanup udevd DB.                                     
[ [32m  OK   [0m] Reached target Switch Root.                                   
[ [32m  OK   [0m] Started Plymouth switch root service.                         
         Starting Switch Root...                                                
[   12.126349] systemd-journald[103]: Received SIGTERM from PID 1 (systemd).    
[   12.129103] EXT4-fs error (device dm-2): ext4_lookup:1447: inode #2: comm sys
temd: deleted inode referenced: 917505                                          
[   12.132689] EXT4-fs error (device dm-2): ext4_lookup:1447: inode #2: comm sys
temd: deleted inode referenced: 917505                                          
[   12.330825] type=1404 audit(1652711200.544:2): enforcing=1 old_enforcing=0 au
id=4294967295 ses=4294967295                                                    
[   12.363378] EXT4-fs error (device dm-2): ext4_lookup:1447: inode #786933: com
m systemd: deleted inode referenced: 917656                                     
[   12.366308] systemd[1]: Failed to load SELinux policy.                       
[ [1;31m!!!!!! [0m] Failed to load SELinux policy, freezing.