Chinese state media say a massive mudslide that buried a village in northern China has killed at least 178 people and injured 35 others.
The official Xinhua news agency says the death toll from the landslide in Shanxi province rose Friday, after 27 more bodies were found.
State media have reported that the wall of waste and mud from an illegal mine plowed into a village of about one thousand residents on Monday.
An outdoor market was said to have been packed with people when the landslide occurred. Officials have said that hundreds could have been killed.
Chinese work safety officials have blamed the illegal mine for the disaster. Police have already detained 12 people associated with the mine, including its boss.
The mudslide happened when heavy rains collapsed a reservoir of iron ore waste at an illegal mine in Shanxi's Xiangfen county.
More than two thousand rescue workers are digging through the rubble in a search of survivors.
However, the head of China's ministry of work safety (Wang Jun) has already admitted that there is "almost no hope" for those still buried beneath the mud.
As of today, Xinhua says 90 percent of the area covered by the landslide already has been searched
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