by Tribune news services

Hundreds of soldiers resumed the slow and difficult search Friday for hundreds of people missing after landslides swallowed three hillside villages in central Sri Lanka, a dangerous effort as continuing rain kept the ground unstable and the risk of more mudslides a constant threat.

By Friday morning, rescuers had recovered 30 bodies, out of hundreds believed buried on Tuesday when torrents of thick, red mud buried the villages of Siripura, Pallebage and Elangapitya. The Sri Lankan Red Cross has said at least 220 families were unaccounted for.

“It’s a very difficult task, but troops will carry out their work in the hope of finding more” in the remote, disaster site in Kegalle district, about 45 miles north of Colombo, said millitary spokesman Brig. Jayanath Jayaweera.

Rescuers held out little hope of finding survivors. Pointing to an expanse of mud covering the 66 houses that once stood in Elangapitiya, Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe said, “All gone with that landslide.”

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