Rescue Hopes Dashed in Philippines

The increasingly desperate search for survivors of a massive landslide on the Philippine island of Leyte was beset by rumors yesterday that 50 people had been pulled out of the quagmire alive and that the sounds of tapping could be heard under the mud. But by last night, and despite the injection of reinforcements from around the world, the rescue teams in what was once the village of Guinsaugon had recovered only more bodies.

The provincial governor, Rosette Lerias, said 82 people had been confirmed dead, with 928 missing. Other officials gave slightly higher figures for the missing but agreed hundreds of the 1,875 villagers had survived Friday's disaster when a massive wall of mud crashed down on Guinsaugon, burying it in mud and sludge up to 35 meters (115ft) deep.

Hopes for a miracle soared at dusk after many of the rescuers had left the site. A local television station quoted a senior interior ministry official as saying that 50 people had been pulled alive from the village school, which had been filled with more than 200 children and seven teachers when the mudslide hit. Rescuers rushed back but found nothing.

"I asked, had they received or found any type of survivors, and the answer was no," US marine Burrell Parmer said after speaking to the commander of the American forces at the site. The Americans, who flew in from two ships diverted to Leyte from exercises elsewhere in the Philippines, were joined by Taiwanese, Malaysian and Spanish rescuers. Many other countries have pledged money to fund the relief effort.