Rescuers comb through devastation after Japanese landslide

Thousands of rescuers combed through the wreckage of homes engulfed by landslides in western Japan in the slim hope of finding survivors, a day after a wall of mud claimed at least 39 lives.

Police officers, firefighters and soldiers worked through the night in a desperate bid to find dozens missing among the sludge and rubble.

"The death toll remained the same at 39 while the number of those who are unaccounted for has risen to 43," an official from the disaster management office in Tokyo said.

The tally of those missing rose from an earlier figure of seven, as more reports came in to local authorities.

Dozens of houses were buried when hillsides collapsed after torrential downpours in Hiroshima that saw more than a month's rain fall in just three hours.

Throughout Wednesday there were moments of hope, with survivors who had sought refuge on the upper floors of their homes airlifted to safety, but there were also bodies carried away from the devastation wrapped in blankets or plastic sheeting.

It emerged yesterday that a 53-year-old rescuer who was killed in a secondary landslide the day earlier had died with a toddler in his arms.

Noriyoshi Masaoka, a firefighter with 35 years' experience, had battled through the slurry of the initial mountain collapse to rescue five people, before going back to help more.