A woman is helped by rescuers after the mudslide in southern Leyte province, Philippines. (Reuters)

Manila, Feb. 17 (Reuters): Hundreds of people were feared dead in the central Philippines after mudslides triggered by heavy rains buried houses and an elementary school packed with children today, officials and witnesses said.

Footage from local television showed only coconut trees and a few tin roofs sticking out of the reddish soil after part of a mountainside collapsed on the farming village of Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte province.

“Rescuers are scared because they can still hear the mountain rumbling,” said Maria Lim, the mayor of Saint Bernard town, where a minor earthquake was felt this morning. Rain, chest-deep mud, blocked roads, washed-out bridges and lack of heavy equipment were hindering rescue efforts. Relief flights and digging were suspended for the night.

“The troops pulled out because big boulders are cascading down the mountain,” said Colonel Raul Farnacio, in charge of the military’s relief operations.

He said 15 bodies had been recovered and 36 survivors found in Guinsaugon, a community of about 1,860 people.

“Help is on the way,” President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on television.

Rosette Lerias, governor of Southern Leyte, said the local school was full of children and also women who were celebrating the anniversary of a local women’s group.

“I don’t see any homes, I don’t see any buildings. It’s just mud,” she told CNN. “Oh God, this is truly tragic.”

One survivor, Didita Kamarenta, feared for her children. “I felt the earth shake and a strong gust of wind, then I felt mud at my feet,” she said. “All the children, including my two children, are lost. They might have been buried.”