Firemen race to save villagers

FIREFIGHTERS and villagers raced last night to unearth up to 400 Bolivians feared trapped under a mass of red clay, rocks and rubble after a landslide hit their village.

Justo Gareca, director of Bolivia's Civil Defence Corps announced up to 400 people may still be trapped under the rubble.

Bad weather and washed-out roads hampered a large-scale rescue effort to reach the victims buried by the landslide caused by heavy rains on Monday in the gold-mining town of Chima.