Hopes were fading yesterday of finding survivors among up to 40 people buried in the rubble of a housing development demolished by a landside, as the death toll after five days of monsoon rains in the Philippines rose to 72, officials said.
At least 27 bodies had been retrieved as of dusk yesterday by search crews sifting through the debris of twisted metal and concrete slabs at the Cherry Hill neighbourhood in Antipolo town just outside Manila.
But Defence Secretary Mr Orlando Mercado, who visited the area with Philippines president Mr Joseph Estrada, said hopes were waning that more survivors would be found. Rescue workers, he said, "can already smell the stench of the bodies".
In one poignant scene, a dog refused to leave a collapsed house despite efforts by search workers to drive it away, witnesses said.
The animal later led the search team to the body of his master, who was found dead still embracing the lifeless body of his daughter.