Officials say they fear up to 106 people may be buried after a hillside collapsed on December 5, following the heaviest rains in the country for decades.

Local residents initially used their bare hands to dig into tonnes of mud that engulfed some 30 houses. Seven people have been saved so far.

Several hundred people, including Red Cross rescue workers, soldiers and police, are digging through the deep mud in an effort to find survivors.

Red Cross officials say that 174 people have died as a result of the heavy rains in Colombia, 225 have been injured and 19 are missing, without counting the victims of the Bello landslide.

Tens of thousands have been left homeless after most major rivers have burst their banks as a result of the heavy rain.

Neighbouring Venezuela is also experiencing heavy flooding. Some 70,000 people have been driven from their homes there.

The May-November rainy season in Mexico, Central America and the northern part of South America has been severe this year.

The extreme weather is attributed to the La Nina climatic phenomenon, which is caused by colder than usual water currents along the Pacific coast.