Story highlights Guatemala's Public Ministry says 131 people are dead, hundreds missing after a landslide in El Cambray

The side of a hill crashed down on a village, engulfing homes

(CNN) The gangly arms of four backhoes dug through a mound of sandy soil that had buried many of the residents of El Cambray alive in a landslide.

Carefully, the diggers turned up sheet metal roofs, broken walls and the bodies of people trapped in the dirt bulging over much of the Guatemalan village.

By early Sunday, they had recovered nearly 90 bodies of people who died after the side of a towering hill broke loose suddenly and crashed down on the village in the darkness of Thursday night.

Since then, residents and rescuers have shoveled and even burrowed with their hands in search of the hundreds of victims the country's Public Ministry estimates were inside the dozens of homes that were instantly engulfed by the landslide.

By Sunday evening, the ministry was reporting 131 people were dead and more than 300 still missing.

Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Search efforts continue for victims of a deadly landslide in Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala, on Monday, October 5. A massive landslide buried much of the El Cambray community near Guatemala City on Thursday, October 1. More than 160 people are dead, and authorities say hundreds remain missing. Hide Caption 1 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala People in Santa Catarina Pinula surround the coffins of four landslide victims on Sunday, October 4. Hide Caption 2 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Rescue workers help a woman after she identified two family members at the site of the landslide on Saturday, October 3. Hide Caption 3 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Relatives attend the burial of landslide victim Pamela Perez, 17, at a cemetery in Santa Catarina Pinula on October 3. Hide Caption 4 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Neighbors comfort each other as rescue workers continue the search for townspeople on October 3. Hide Caption 5 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Welsar Nazario carries the coffin of his 5-month-old nephew Alezandro Macario, who died in a mudslide, to the Santa Catarina Pinula cemetery on the outskirts of Guatemala City on October 3. Hide Caption 6 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala A doll and clothing lie in the mud as rescue workers continue to search the site of a mudslide on October 3. Hide Caption 7 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala The scene of the mudslide in El Cambray, Guatemala on Friday, October 2. Hide Caption 8 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Rescue workers work late into the night on October 2. Hide Caption 9 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Municipal firefighters rest during rescue operations on October 2. Hide Caption 10 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Rony Pu is rescued on October 2. Hide Caption 11 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Army soldiers and rescuers search for victims on October 2. Hide Caption 12 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala A rescuer carries the body of a child recovered from the mud and debris on October 2. Hide Caption 13 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala A woman stands in the midst of the debris on October 2. Hide Caption 14 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Rescuers carry a landslide victim on October 2. Hide Caption 15 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Rescue workers fan out around El Cambray village to search for survivors on October 2. Hide Caption 16 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Municipal firefighters recover a body from under the debris on October 2. Hide Caption 17 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Bodies recovered from the debris are seen at a provisional morgue in Santa Catarina Pinula municipality on October 2. Hide Caption 18 of 19 Photos: Landslide in Guatemala Volunteers carry aid for people affected by floods and landslides in Santa Catarina Pinula municipality on October 2. Hide Caption 19 of 19

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