TAIWAN has sent emergency teams into a remote village where dozens are feared to have been trapped by massive mudslides after Typhoon Morakot brought torrential rain to the island.

Eight specially-trained rescuers and 13 soldiers from an elite unit were flown by helicopter into Hsiaolin in southern Kaohsiung county, where reports said up to 200 people could have been buried by the mud.



Earlier it was reported that 400 people were feared missing.



Rescuers flew 45 people to safety and survivors spoke of family members being engulfed.



A 46-year-old man, identified only by his surname Weng, told the TVBS cable news network that he had narrowly escaped as he checked a makeshift wooden house near his home, but his 10 other family members had disappeared in the mud.



"All of them were gone," he said in tears.



Rescue authorities plan to send up to 160 rescuers to the village, an official from the disaster contingency centre surnamed Liang said.



"As long as weather permits, we'll send more people there," he said.



Local television reported that 200 homes could have been wiped out by mudslides.



"To tell the truth, we don't know how many people were trapped there," Liang said.



Lin Chien-chung, a rescued villager, was cited by the United Evening newspaper as saying that his home and neighbourhood were buried and up to 600 people could have been buried alive.



However, rescuers said the figure was an overestimate.



Originally published as Hundreds feared buried in mudslides