Guatemalan authorities abandoned efforts today to recover bodies from a deadly landslide that killed hundreds of people, and blocked villagers’ access to the site to prevent an outbreak of disease.

The discovery of more than 130 bodies pushed the number of dead and missing in mudslides linked to Hurricane Stan to more than 1,000, as Guatemala’s Indian communities struggled today with the fact they must abandon the dead, give up traditional burial rites and declare many communities graveyards.

The first rescue teams reaching Guatemala’s isolated communities reported 133 more confirmed fatalities, raising the death toll in mudslides linked to Hurricane Stan to 652 with 384 missing.

A GUATEMALAN village buried under tons of dirt and debris may be declared a Mayan mass grave as rescuers give up digging for the remains of up to 1,400 people killed in a mudslide triggered by Hurricane Stan.