The death toll from a landslide in north China's Shanxi Province has risen to 27 as rescuers found five more bodies on Sunday.

The people could not been identified at the site because they had been buried for nearly two months.

A landslide toppled a waste dump from a local iron mine on Aug.1, burying Sigou Village in Loufan County in the suburbs of the provincial capital Taiyuan.

At least 18 people remain missing.

About 6,500 rescuers with digging equipment had been searching for the missing for days, according to Jing Dekui, deputy head of the county.

The exact number of people trapped was still unknown because most were migrants and not registered at the public security bureau.

Wang Jun, acting governor of Shanxi, paid a visit to the site of the accident on Sunday, urging authorities to find out the exact number of the missing people.

Wang also called on the authorities to launch safety overhauls in all sectors, particularly mining, chemical and fireworks production, and traffic.

The government had offered 9.87 million yuan (US$1.44 million) in total compensation to the 45 families of the victims and 4.36 million yuan to other households suffering economic losses as a result of the tragedy.

A team sent by the State Council, China's Cabinet, was investigating the landslide, which had initially been played down by local authorities.

Wang Jun, 56, former head of the State Administration of Work Safety, took the new post two weeks ago, after former Shanxi governor Meng Xuenong resigned.

Meng resigned on September 15 in the wake of another deadly mud-rock flow that killed 267 people in the province.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2008)