Colombo: The search for victims buried in the deadly landslide in central Sri Lanka is still ongoing, the military said on Saturday.
Local army commander Major General Mano Perera said the military rescue teams have been helped by better weather in the central hill district of Haldummula.
"We are experiencing clear weather today which is drying out the dampness," Perera said.
Troops dug out the sixth dead body today since the tragedy struck on Wednesday morning.
Perera said the body of a middle aged woman was found.
"We now believe we have found the area where homes had been buried by an earth mass of 25 to 30 feet," he added.
The landslide which struck the Meeriyabadda tea plantation devastated over 70 homes of mostly Indian-origin plantation workers.
The line of homes was pushed and buried by the raging mound of earth which fell on them.
Initial fears suggesting over 200 people might have been buried alive receded as information emerged that some residents sensing danger had evacuated themselves. The police now say less than 40 people remain missing.
The National Building Research Institute said their warnings as far back as 2011 for residents to leave the area due to threat of landslides had gone unheeded.
