Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Aerial footage shows submerged houses in south-eastern Myanmar

The death toll from a landslide in south-eastern Myanmar has risen to 59, authorities say.

The landslide occurred in Mon state on Friday following days of torrential rain. Rescue efforts have been hindered by mud and downpours.

Seasonal monsoon rains have caused widespread flooding in Myanmar, submerging homes and crumbling bridges.

More than 80,000 people are sheltering at evacuation sites across the country, the UN says

Rescuers are continuing to search for victims of Friday's landslide, which destroyed 27 homes in one village in Paung township.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Rescuers in Myanmar have vowed to continue the search for victims

Many states in Myanmar have been affected by the floods but Mon appears to have been the most badly hit.

Vice President Henry Van Thio visited the area on Monday and pledged that more boats would be deployed in rescue efforts. </s> At least 10 dead, dozens missing after landslide in southern Myanmar

At least 10 people have been killed and dozens are missing after a landslide caused by severe rains buried homes and buildings in southern Myanmar, officials and rescue workers said on Friday.Heavy rain has pummeled the south for days, causing flooding that has displaced at least 12,000 people, according to the United Nations. Thin Lae War Aung, an official in Paung township, Mon state, told Reuters five men and five women had been confirmed dead after the landslide in Thaphyu Kone village. Myo Myint Shein, chairman of the Mudon Rescue Association, said the death toll was 17 and expected to rise.

SEE ALSO :Police among 18 feared killed in landslide at Myanmar jade mine

“I heard a loud sound and the ground was shaking,” he told Reuters. “It’s not possible to be alive after being hit by rock and soil.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that houses and a school had been washed away in other townships. More heavy rainfall is expected in the coming days.

We are undertaking a survey to help us improve our content for you. This will only take 1 minute of your time, please give us your feedback by clicking HERE. All responses will be confidential. </s> YANGON
• Recovery teams in Myanmar fought against a huge lake of sludge yesterday in their search for bodies after a mudslide engulfed more than 50 jade miners - the latest fatal accident in a notoriously dangerous but highly lucrative industry.

Dozens die each year in landslides caused by jade mining, a poorly regulated industry rife with corruption.

The latest disaster struck the jade mine in Hpakant township in northern Kachin state late on Monday night.

Police initially described how a "mud lake" buried 54 miners - all feared dead - while they were sleeping, although they said yesterday that the men had been working a night shift at the time.

By nightfall on Tuesday, only three bodies had been recovered, a police officer from Hpakant township, who asked not to be named, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Searching in the mud is difficult - it's not like soil," he added.

The site is mined by two companies: Myanmar Thura Gems and Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung.

Myanmar Thura Gems director Hla Soe Oo told AFP by phone that the company was "helping the families identify the victims' bodies".

The open jade mines in Hpakant township have turned the landscape into a vast moonscape-like terrain of barren hills and vast valleys of dirt scoured by companies for the precious gems.

Impoverished ethnic communities often scavenge the terrain for scraps left behind by the big firms - and are frequently the main victims of landslides.

But police said there were "no informal workers" on the site at the time of this mudslide.

Dozens were swept away by a landslide in Hpakant last year and at least 120 were buried in 2015 after the collapse of a mound of tailings, a mud-like waste by-product of mining.

The jade industry is largely driven by insatiable demand from neighbouring China, where the translucent green gemstone has long been prized.

Watchdog Global Witness estimated the industry was worth some US$31 billion (S$42.2 billion) in 2014, although very little reaches the state coffers.

Meanwhile in South Africa, 51 people were killed in the southern and eastern parts after heavy rain caused flooding and mudslides.

Rescue workers were digging through collapsed homes and other buildings in the coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal province for survivors, local officials said yesterday.

The region has been hit by heavy rain for days, but the authorities did not anticipate the extent of the downpour late on Monday, said Mr Lennox Mabaso, a spokesman for the provincial Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs department. </s> At least 22 people were killed when a landslide triggered by monsoon rains struck a village in eastern Myanmar, as emergency workers continued the search Saturday for scores more feared missing.

[MAWLAMYINE] At least 22 people were killed when a landslide triggered by monsoon rains struck a village in eastern Myanmar, as emergency workers continued the search Saturday for scores more feared missing.

A huge brown scar on the hillside marked where the deluge of mud descended on Thae Pyar Kone village in Mon state on Friday, wiping out 16 homes and a monastery.

Search and rescue teams worked through the night trying to find survivors and recover bodies from the deep sludge.

"So far we have found 22 bodies and 47 injured people," said local administrator Myo Min Tun.

Officials believe up to 100 people could still be missing.

Aerial pictures showed broken remnants of rooftops and other debris from the houses strewn next to trucks knocked over by the force of the mudslide.

Htay Htay Win, 32, told AFP that two of her daughters and five other relatives had still not been found.

"I heard a huge noise and turned round to see my home being hit by the mud," she said, crying.

Rescue workers spent Saturday morning loading bodies wrapped in plastic onto the back of flatbed trucks as worried villagers looked on.

Emergency crews had to unblock the main highway from Yangon to Mawlamyine, buried under six feet (1.8 metres) of sludge.

Torrential downpours have burst riverbanks across the country while coastal communities have been warned of higher tides.

In the town of Shwegyin in eastern Bago region, residents waded out through waist-deep waters or waited to be rescued by boat after the Sittaung river burst its banks, swallowing entire homes.

Around 89,000 people have been displaced by floods in recent weeks, although many have since been able to return home, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Vietnam has also experienced heavy flooding this week with at least eight people killed in the country's central highlands and rescuers using a zipline to carry dozens of others to safety. </s> Landslide in southeast Myanmar kills at least 10 people

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A landslide buried more than a dozen village houses in southeastern Myanmar, killing at least 10 people and injuring nearly 30, media reported Saturday.

Rescuers were using backhoes and bulldozers to clear the mud and debris from the village in Paung township. The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that some residents are still missing.

The top official in Mon state, Aye Zan, visited the site and villagers who were evacuated to a relief camp to escape floods following torrential rains.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that monsoon flooding had displaced more than 7,000 people this week in Mon state. Apart from the landslide in Paung, houses and a school in other townships were washed away, roads blocked and villages submerged.

Nearly 12,000 people have been displaced in Myanmar this week alone, bringing the total number of those in evacuation centers to more than 38,000, the U.N. said. </s> Landslide in southeast Myanmar kills at least 10 people

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A landslide has buried more than a dozen village houses in southeastern Myanmar, killing at least 10 people and injuring nearly 30.

The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper says rescuers are using backhoes and bulldozers to clear the mud and debris from the village in Paung township. It says some residents are still missing.

The top official in Mon state, Aye Zan, has visited the site and villagers who were evacuated to a relief camp to escape floods following torrential rains. </s> Cyclone Mora has hit Bangladesh, lashing the country’s south-eastern coast with heavy rain and winds.

The powerful storm made landfall on Tuesday morning between the fishing port of Cox’s Bazar and the city of Chittagong, with winds of up to 117 km/h (73mph), Bangladesh’s Meteorological Department said.

Authorities have been moving more than one million people to shelters.

Parts of India and Myanmar are also expected to be affected.

It comes after heavy rains in Sri Lanka caused floods and landslides that killed at least 180 people.

Bangladesh’s meteorological department had previously warned that low-lying areas of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and many other coastal districts were “likely to be inundated” by a storm surge of 1.2m-1.5m (4-5 feet) above normal levels.

Hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated to cyclone shelters, schools and government offices as of late Monday.

Fishing boats and trawlers have been advised to remain in shelters as well.

Severe weather tracking website Tropical Storm Risk forecasts that Cyclone Mora will move northwards past Chittagong over the next 12 hours, weakening as it moves further inland and downgrading from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm.

No casualties have been reported, but Reuters said the cyclone has caused significant damage to refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims.

Community leader Shamsul Alam told the news agency that almost all 10,000 thatched huts in two camps were destroyed.

Large camps have been set up in Cox’s Bazar for hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya who have fled violence from neighbouring Myanmar.

The Bay of Bengal is prone to storms, and Bangladesh is often hit by severe weather during its rainy monsoon season from the middle to the end of the year. </s> At least 59 people have been killed and 25 are missing after landslides and floods ravaged Indonesia's South Sulawesi province.

Floods have inundated at least 100 villages in the province since Wednesday, following days of heavy rain, the country's disaster management agency said.

At least 44 people died in the hardest-hit district, Gowa, said Sutopo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.

Nearly 5000 homes and 12,000 hectares of rice fields were under water, while about 3500 people were displaced, he said.

Landslides and floods are common in Indonesia during the rainy season, which is expected to peak in January and February this year. </s> JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A disaster official says the number of people killed after days of torrential rain triggered flash floods and landslides on Indonesia's Sulawesi island has climbed to 59 with 25 others missing.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman, says more bodies were recovered Friday as floodwaters and rainfall subsided in several areas.

Thirteen districts and cities in South Sulawesi province including the capital, Makassar, have been affected by flooding that began late Tuesday, forcing more than 3,000 people to flee their homes. Rescuers are still searching for 25 others.

Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.

In this Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, file photo, residents ride a makeshift raft as they evacuate their flooded homes in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Torrential rains that overwhelmed a dam and caused landslides that killed some and displaced more than a few thousand residents in central Indonesia, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Masyudi Syachban Firmansyah, File)
A landslide in south-eastern Myanmar kills 59 people.