Soldiers using heavy diggers and hundreds of rescue workers are clawing through tonnes of mud that washed away about 150 tin-roofed homes on a tea plantation in Sri Lanka.
The mudslide is feared to have buried alive 100 people on Wednesday at a time when most of the residents were away at work or in school.
"We are also bringing in an additional 200 troops to add to the 500 already here to carry out the search," the region's top military officer, Major General Mano Perera, said on Thursday.
Rescue efforts were, however, being hampered by persistent rain, blamed for the initial mudslide and the unstable conditions of the surrounding hills, the officer said.
Shopkeeper Vevaratnam Marathamuttu said he ran when tonnes of earth came crashing down the mountain on Wednesday morning, fearing there had been an explosion.
"I thought it was some sort of a bomb blast and fled from my shop," Marathamuttu said. "I saved my life because I ran away."
Officials have warned that the chances of finding survivors are slim, with a senior government minister voicing fears that the death toll could hit 100.
Officials said 16 people were so far confirmed dead.
There had been fears of an even higher toll when officials initially said that up to 300 people were unaccounted for, but Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said most of those who were classified as missing were later found to be at work or in schools.
More than 300 survivors spent the night at two schools near the Meeriyabedda tea plantation which bore the full brunt of Wednesday's mudslide.
An office where village records were maintained was also destroyed in the disaster, causing problems for the authorities in compiling reliable casualty figures.
If the number of dead does hit 100, the disaster would be the worst since the Asian tsunami in December 2004 when 31,000 Sri Lankans lost their lives.
Witnesses spoke of hearing a noise like thunder or a bomb blast when part of a mountainside collapsed on to the estate, burying some of the workers' homes in nine metres of mud and debris.
Sections of several national highways have also been washed away by the rains and a train was stuck after a mountain slope crashed on to a railway line and disrupted services on the single track to the heart of the tea-growing central hills.
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