Rescuers have recovered eight bodies from the ruins of a southwest China village, two days after a devastating rain-triggered landslide destroyed 37 houses and buried 99 villagers under mud, authorities said Wednesday.

As of 10:30 PM Wednesday, 91 residents of Dazhai Village, Guanling County, Guizhou Province, remained missing, said officials at the rescue headquarters.

From 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM Wednesday the bodies of three buried villagers were recovered, bringing the confirmed death toll to eight, said the officials.

A total of 26 heavy backhoes had removed 100,000 cubic meters of clay. Some 2,000 people took part in the rescue work, said Pu Jianjiang, head of the provincial work safety bureau.

The landslide brought down about 1.5 to 2 million cubic meters of mud, which was unstable and likely to trigger additional landslides, said Yin Yueping, a researcher with the Ministry of Land and Resources.

The landslide struck 37 homes in Dazhai Village at 2:30 PM Monday.

At least 1,000 villagers who lived in the area have since been evacuated.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2010)