MANILA: Philippine villagers joined troops Sunday in the search for survivors after a landslide buried more than a dozen homes in a town in the south of the country, officials said.

Six people were killed and at least seven others were reported missing in Maco town, in Compostela Valley, following the landslip which was triggered by days of heavy rain.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said villagers had joined rescuers to help in the search, and they were attempting to verify reports from the ground that more people could be missing.

The military was attempting to unearth the buried houses, while relief supplies had also been sent to more than 100 people sheltering in a chapel, the agency said.

District chairman Jovencio Anquera said the landslide came after three days of continuous rain, burying at least 13 houses and also knocking out power supplies.

Last year, 10 people died in a landslide in the same area, also caused by heavy rain. In February 2006, a landslide buried the entire village of Guinsaugon in the central island of Leyte, killing more than a thousand people.

- AFP/yb