RIO DE JANEIRO - Beleaguered rescue workers struggled early Thursday to find survivors after another mudslide surged into a rain-sodden hillside shantytown, engulfing at least 40 homes in a huge cascade of mud. The state Civil Defense department said the latest slide unleashed by heavy rains hit in Rio's neighboring city of Niteroi. There was no word on how many were missing, but it was feared dozens were buried under the debris. Although rain let up some late Wednesday, Alves Souza, commander of the firefighters in the Niteroi rescue operations carried out under electric lights, said the work was moving slowly. The wet, steep terrain made it dangerous for anyone trapped in the wreckage and those trying to pull victims out. "We've managed to recover two bodies and the work is very intense, given the fact that the volume of material we have here is very large," Souza told the Globo television network. Record rainfall since Monday afternoon triggered deadly mudslides across Rio's metropolitan area, causing at least 147 deaths. At least 60 people were missing, but that didn't include the dozens likely buried under the latest slide that hit Niteroi.
