BREAKING NEWS

Hopes fade in China for 118 still missing day after landslide

Rescue workers in China searched for 118 people still missing more than 24 hours after a landslide buried a mountain village, with hopes fading on Sunday after 15 bodies were pulled out of the rock and mud during the first day of the search.

A couple and their two-month-old baby were found alive in the hours after the massive landslide crashed down on the village of Xinmo, in the southwest province of Sichuan as dawn broke on Saturday. But there was no news of any other survivors being found.

Authorities had not updated an overnight toll of 15 confirmed dead, but geological experts said that chances of survival for the missing were slim, state-owned Xinhua news agency reported.

"We weren't able to pull anyone out alive," Wu Youheng who lives in a neighboring village and rushed to help rescue efforts on Saturday, told Reuters.

"We pulled out two people but they were already dead. I think it's too late, they're unlikely to find anyone else alive."