DHAKA: Rescue workers in Sri Lanka have intensified their search for survivors of a tea plantation landslide in the centre of the country which is feared to have buried more than 100 people.

Five excavators normally used to dig trenches joined the search effort at first light on Thursday, military sources told the AFP news agency.

Officials have already warned there is little chance of finding survivors, reports BBC.

It is not certain how many people are trapped in the debris.

The deadly mudslide hit the Meeriyabedda tea plantation near the town of Haldummulla, about 200 km (120 miles) east of the capital Colombo, on Wednesday morning, 

Ministers told the Daily Mirror newspaper in Colombo that 150 people were trapped in the debris. The Island newspaper reported that as many as 250 people were buried alive.

However Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told AFP after visiting the site on Wednesday that the total was closer to about 100 people.

** Over 100 feared dead in Sri Lanka landslide

BDST: 1000 HRS, OCT 30, 2014