Deadly mudslides bury 200 in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro: Some 200 people were feared dead in mudslides near Rio de Janeiro, officials said on Thursday, adding to woes in massive flooding that has already killed more than 150 people. 

    Twenty-five people, including eight small children, were pulled out alive early Thursday after spending hours buried under mud and debris, giving anxious relatives of those not yet found renewed hope, and rescuers inspiration to redouble their efforts. Some 150 rescue workers—soldiers, firefighters and civil defence workers—were at work in the search for more survivors. 
    "From what the neighbours said, some 200 people may be buried; there could be more," local fire chief Pedro Machado said on Thursday as crews responded to mudslides in Niteroi, a city across the bay from the city of Rio. He noted that six bodies were recovered following the mudslide on Wednesday. 
    Witnesses saw the collapse on Wednesday of a wide area of the hillside over some 700 metres, burying about 50 homes. Officials said there was little hope of finding survivors under the mountains of mud. 
    The six confirmed deaths raised the death toll to 151 in floods and mudslides in the area around Rio since Monday when torrential rains washed down slum-covered hillsides after the worst rains in half a century. The toll was likely to rise as dozens of people were still missing. AFP 
    More than 200 people were buried alive when a landslide ploughed into a slum in the city of Niteroi on Wednesday night 
    The region has been pounded since Monday with the worst downpours in half a century