GUINSAUGON, Philippines (Reuters) - Rescue workers pulled five bodies on Monday from a Philippine school buried under a mudslide, dashing reports of a miraculous recovery of 50 people three days after their village was obliterated.
"We have yet to find any survivors," Captain Burrell Parmer, a spokesman for U.S. Marines taking part in the rescue operation, told the ABS-CBN television channel.
"Our troops have found dead bodies," he said. "They dig with their bare hands and place them in body bags."
Parmer's somber news contradicted an earlier report from a Philippine government official that U.S. forces had brought out about 50 survivors from under metres of mud in the school in Guinsaugon, a remote farming community about 675 km (420 miles) southeast of Manila.
Friday's devastating landslide, triggered by two weeks of heavy rain, obliterated the village of 1,800 people. So far, 84 bodies have been recovered. Relatives have reported 1,371 people still missing.
But rescuers, including U.S. Marines dispatched from annual Philippine military exercises, focused efforts on the elementary school after unconfirmed reports that some of the 253 people trapped inside had sent desperate text messages on Friday.
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Two U.S. Marines climb up high place during their search and rescue operations for landslide victims Monday, Feb. 20, 2006 in Guinsaugon village, in the island province of Leyte, central Philippines. The U.S. Marines who were diverted from their joint military exercise in Jolo were joined by rescuers from Taiwan and Malaysia. A total 74 bodies were recovered so far but officials estimating those who perished in the landslide to be 1,500 including about 200 school children. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)