Search continues for Bolivian landslide missing

Using picks, shovels and bare hands, rescuers dug through mud and rocks yesterday searching for survivors of a landslide that buried much of the impoverished Bolivian town of Chima and left hundreds missing.

Fourteen bodies had been recovered since a hillside came crashing on the remote gold prospecting town last Sunday. "We estimate about 300 or 400 people are buried there," said Defence Minister Freddy Teodovic. Because of difficult access, help has been slow in coming to the northern Bolivian town, and an excavator is the only piece of heavy machinery deployed in the search.