In the southern Philippine province of Davao de Oro, a devastating landslide near a mining site in Maco town on Tuesday has led to the death of 27 people, with 89 others still unaccounted for. The local government has confirmed the successful rescue of 32 individuals.

The landslide, which occurred near a gold mining site, swallowed several homes and two buses used to transport miners. The Maco municipal government is leading the ongoing search and retrieval operations, with rescue workers tirelessly navigating the treacherous terrain in a race against time.

Torrential rains that have battered Davao de Oro in recent weeks are believed to have triggered the landslide. The region's topography, combined with mining activities, might have exacerbated the disaster's impact.

At least 68 people are now known to have died after a landslide swept through a goldmining village in the Philippines almost a week ago.

Officials say there are still 51 people missing following Tuesday's disaster in Davao de Oro province, but rescue workers admit there is little hope of finding any more survivors.

A three-year-old girl was the last person pulled alive from the mud.

Her rescue - after more than 60 hours buried - was described as "a miracle".

Edward Macapili, a disaster agency official of the Davao de Oro province, said at the time it have given "hope to the rescuers".

But on Monday, those hopes appeared to have faded.

"It is almost a week after the incident and... we are assuming that no one is alive there," Mr Macapili told AFP news agency. "There is already a foul smell in the area now so there's a need to fast-track the retrieval."

The number of retrieved bodies from the landslide that hit a village in Maco town in Davao de Oro has reached 98, local authorities said Saturday afternoon, February 17, 2024.

In a press conference, Leah Anora, head of the management of the dead and the missing cluster, said as of 12 noon on Saturday, of the 98 bodies retrieved, 88 have complete body parts while 10 bodies were incomplete.

She said 79 of them have already been identified.

Anora said nine individuals are still on the list of missing persons; four were residents of Barangay Masara; four from Maria-Socio General Services Inc. (MSGSI); and one from APEX Mining.

Incident Commander Engineer Ariel Capoy said retrieval operations are ongoing for the missing individuals.