Landslides, floods kill dozens in Philippines

LILOAN, Philippines — Entire families were buried alive in the mudslides that have killed at least 87 people in the eastern Philippines, rescuers said Sunday as they searched for more than 125 people still missing.

Of those killed, 61 were in the hard-hit central province of Southern Leyte, according to the National Disaster Coordination Center. The death toll seemed likely to rise, as regional officials reported more bodies than in the government’s official count.

Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias returned from a devastated village in the San Francisco coastal area late Sunday and reported 16 more dead there, which would place the toll at 99.

"We were expecting some Christmas parties, but now all we should do is to make life a little better for those who were left behind," she said.

Some blamed years of illegal logging for the landslides, triggered by six days of pounding rains and winds in six provinces near the Pacific Ocean late Friday to early Saturday.

Bad weather, blocked roads and downed power and telephone lines hampered work to reach survivors. Rescuers described digging up bodies of whole families buried together, including a mother embracing her children.

The governor said the mountainside village of Punta, with 360 people, was a scene of mayhem. More than half of its 83 houses were destroyed or buried under mounds of debris and coconut trees.

Lerias said an 89-year-old man and 14-year-old girl were rescued. Both appeared to have survived in an air pocket, she said.

Rescuers have found 49 bodies in Punta. Several villagers who sought shelter in a house were killed when it was engulfed by mud flowing down a mountainside toward the ocean, she said.

Lerias said at least three more villages in Leyte province remained blocked from rescuers.