Beijing - The death toll in mudslide that buried a market and several buildings in the northern Chinese province Shanxi rose to 178, the state-run Xinhua news agency Saturday quoted officials as saying.

Five days after the mudslide, rescue efforts by thousands of volunteers continued but hopes of finding survivors were fading, as exact casualty numbers remained unclear. 

Officials said the mud would be cleared off the ground by Sunday, but rescuers encountered difficulties clearing the sludge from two ravines.

Heavy rain caused a dam at a waste reservoir downstream of an illegally operating iron mine to burst on Monday. About 268,000 cubic metres of mud covered an area of 
30 hectares, destroying a market, an office building and several houses.

"My brothers' bodies were recovered. But a sister-in-law was still missing," Wang Jungang, a resident, told Xinhua.

Gao Ai and her husband witnessed the mudflow. "I heard something roar outside. I thought it was an earthquake. We rushed out of the house and held a tree. We saw many people swallowed by the mud," she said. 

China's government set up an accident investigation team and promised harsh punishment for those responsible for the burst dam at the Tashan mine near the town Linfen.

Police detained 13 people deemed accountable, among them the mine management.

Locals accused the mine operators of being aware of the dangers of the dam, but said no one dared to blow the whistle "because the boss of the mine was so rich that he could settle everything with money," one resident was quoted as saying. 

"Every time it is the same - when a large number of officials were sacked because of an accident, the new ones continue to make the same mistakes," Zhang Jiping added.

The area around Tashan has several iron ore mines that employ many migrant workers from Shanxi and other provinces, making it difficult for local officials to identify the victims of the mudslide, reports said. (dpa)