TACLOBAN, Philippines (AFP) - Up to 3,000 people are missing and feared dead after a massive landslide buried a village in the central Philippines, officials said, as 109 bodies were recovered.
Rescue official Hermigildo Castil told AFP by phone from Guinsaugon village that 109 bodies had so far been found as rescue work resumed early Saturday.
The number of survivors remained at 57 after Friday's disaster in the south of Leyte province.
Maria Lim, mayor of the nearby town of Saint Bernard, and Roger Mercado, the legislator representing the district in the House of Representatives, both raised the number of missing villagers to 3,000.
The Red Cross earlier estimated about 200 people were killed and said 1,500 others were missing.
Castil said the rain had stopped but dark clouds were so far preventing helicopters from landing. About 500 rescuers at the village were using shovels to search for victims.
Richard Gordon, the head of the Philippine Red Cross, said in a radio interview. "We're hoping for the best but preparing for the worst," he said.
The first footage from the devastated village showed a sea of mud covering what had been lush green valley farmland. The mud was estimated to be at least six metres (yards) deep.
Only a few sheets of tin roofing and the occasional coconut tree could be seen. Tiny groups of mud-spattered survivors walked through the muck, apparently stunned by the scope of the destruction.
Among those feared buried in the mire were nearly 250 children and adults in the village school, officials said.
Experts blamed deforestation for the tragedy, which came after days of rainfall that was five times higher than usual.
In a televised address to the nation, President Gloria Arroyo said rescue teams were rushing to the area from "air, land and sea" to cope with the catastrophe.
"I have ordered the Coast Guard and our entire naval force in the (central Philippines) region to the area," she said.
"Naval ships will be used as floating hospitals and command centres for relief and rescue."
The international community led by the US offered assistance while the Red Cross in Geneva appealed for two million Swiss francs (1.52 million dollars) to fund a relief operation.
It appealed to donors to come forward fast as it needed to provide temporary shelters, mosquito nets, medical supplies and other aid for survivors.
The United States, which had been taking part in joint military exercises in the Philippines, sent two military ships to the stricken area to help and would look at other ways to provide urgently needed help, the White House said.
"We hope and pray that ongoing search and rescue operations will help save as many lives as possible," spokesman Trent Duffy said.
The United Nations had deployed a special team to assess the disaster at Guinsaugon, as Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed sadness at the huge loss of life, a spokesman said.
"The secretary general is deeply saddened by the loss of life and destruction caused by the mudslide that hit the village of Guinsaugon," said Annan's spokesman.
"He extends his deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed or injured in the disaster."
Leyte Governor Rosette Lerias said the last census showed there were 375 houses with 3,000 people living in Guinsaugon before the landslide. She described the village as totally flattened.
"It was like mud running down the mountain and it covered the village in seconds," she said, quoting survivors.
Lerias said many Guinsaugon residents had been evacuated after landslides earlier in the week had killed more than 20 people on Leyte, but that many had returned Friday because the rains had stopped and the sun had come out.
A mild 2.6-magnitude earthquake which struck before the landslide may also have helped set off the wall of mud that crashed down on the village, said Rene Solidum, head of the government vulcanology office.
"The area could have really been ready for a landslide because of the amount of rainfall and if there was a minor earthquake, it might have hastened it," Solidum said.
Army Colonel Nestor Sadirin, head of a rescue task force, said 16 bodies had been recovered so far and 100 people rescued.
Gordon said the Red Cross would dispatch sniffer dogs to hunt for survivors. "This is one of the most remote and inaccessible regions of the country. The mud is waist-deep in some areas and this is making it very difficult to search for survivors and get help to the injured," he told reporters.
Military helicopters were able to reach the area despite heavy clouds but the flights ceased after nightfall because the aircraft did not have night-flying capabilities.
Much of the rescue effort had to be called off after nightfall because there were no lights and because "the soil was very unstable," said civil defense spokesman Anthony Golez.
Relief groups called for drinking water, food, blankets and body bags to be brought to the scene.
More than 5,000 people were killed in a combined flood and mudslide on Leyte in November 1991.
