Special reports: Philippines landslide

A woman is surrounded by rescuers after a mudslide in Leyte province in this February 17, 2006 video grab. (Photo: Xinhua/REUTERS)

     GINSAUGON Village, the Philippines, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Soldiers, student volunteers and government officials have been arriving here since Saturday morning at the site of the mountain mud devastation which buried a village alive, in the hope of finding survivors.

    But like some other groups already on the site, no survivor has been found yet.

    Officials said at least 1,500 villagers were buried by the landslide on Friday and they are now feared dead. Only 86 survivors have been found out of an estimated village population of 2,000.

    Some rescuers said they have received text messages calling for help from people buried beneath the heavy mud, indicating there were still people alive. But this has not been confirmed.

    Rescuers are concentrating on digging the site of an elementary school where more than 240 pupils and teachers were believed to be buried.

    Because of heavy rainfalls which made the local roads more difficult to travel by motors, many of the rescuers walked for hours to get to the village.

    The incessant rain also hampered rescue works as no helicopter could land in the disaster site, which has become a quagmire of black mud 30 feet deep, and square kilometers long and wide. Enditem