Rescue workers have pulled 30 bodies from the debris of a central China landslide and are continuing their search for victims.

Most of the dead are believed to have been aboard a bus from Shanghai to Lichuan, a small city in the central province of Hubei, but rescuers have not ruled out chances that two workers reported missing since Tuesday could be among them, the rescue headquarters told Xinhua early on Saturday.

Immediately after the landslide, one highway workers was confirmed dead, one injured and two buried. The four workers were cleaning water from the road.

Nearly all the bodies were badly damaged and investigators may need DNA technologies to identify them, said a spokesman with the Badong county government in Enshi Prefecture.

The landslide occurred around 8:40 AM. Tuesday at the entrance of a tunnel in Badong. It left about 3,000 cubic meters of rubble on State Highway 318, which runs below the tunnel. The highway, connecting Shanghai and the Tibet Autonomous Region, is the main route for all motor vehicles in western Hubei.

The bus is believed to be carrying 31 people, most of whom from Lichuan, including two drivers and one conductor. Among the passengers was a four-month-old baby, two one-year-old toddlers and an eight-year-old boy.

It was a nightmare for Zhang Xiuming, a villager in Lichuan. His son, 46-year-old Zhang Cunyuan, was taking his wife and son home from Shanghai to celebrate the old man's 70th birthday.

"I called him at around 8:00 AM Tuesday morning and he told me they would arrive soon," Zhang Xiuming told reporters.

The telephone conversation was abruptly cut short for no apparent reason, and the old man was never able to get through again.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2007)