TAIPEI, Taiwan, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Taiwanese rescue teams pressed on Thursday in a desperate attempt to find those missing in the wake of mudslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot.
Even as the death toll mounted from the deadly storm, which hit the island nation last weekend, rescue teams found hundreds alive, but authorities said they feared for dozens more who may be trapped in the mountainous south.
Thus far about 1,000 people earlier reported missing had been rescued by Wednesday in Xiaolin village, the worst hit, and other nearby towns, the Taipei Times reported.
"Xiaolin Village is gone. People are still buried under the mud, please save them," one survivor was quoted as saying, even as 300 people were rescued.
China's Xinhua news agency said Taiwan's death toll rose to 103 with the discovery Wednesday of 32 bodies in southern Kaohsiung County.
CNN reported at least 61 people were still missing, but the BBC reported authorities fear the number is much higher.
Rescue efforts were hampered by rain.
The Taipei Times said with the death toll rising and dozens still to be accounted for, lawmakers questioned President Ma Ying-jeou's leadership.
One fellow party lawmaker said Ma should have ordered full military involvement in disaster relief.
In China, Morakot killed eight people, displaced 1.4 million more and caused hundreds of million of dollars in damage.
