At least 24 people were confirmed killed Friday and hundreds more feared dead when a massive landslide buried an entire village in an eastern Philippine province, flattening homes and an elementary school, officials told Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa). Estimates of the missing range from the hundreds to more than 1,500. Red Cross chairman Senator Richard Gordon said the estimated casualty count could be as high as 90 per cent of the missing. The landslide buried some 500 houses and an elementary school in the village of Guinsaugon, a community at the foot of a mountain in Saint Bernard town in Southern Leyte province, 675 kilometres south of Manila. Edwin Pamonag, a local Red Cross official, said 14 of the recovered dead bodies have been brought to the town hall, while the remaining 10 were still at the site. Pamonag said among the fatalities was a male foreigner. "The foreign-looking body was unrecognisable because it was already mutilated," he said. Southern Leyte provincial governor Rosette Lerias said more than 100 people have also been rescued alive, some of whom suffered injuries and were being treated in a local hospital. Lerias said rescue operations have been suspended overnight. --More 23 13 Local Time 20 13 GMT
