About 2,500 rescuers searched for survivors a day after landslides killed 39 people in western Japan following torrential rain, a report said Thursday, according to dpa. Seven people were still missing after more than 200 millimetres of rain in three hours pounded the northern part of Hiroshima city in the early hours of Wednesday, broadcaster NHK reported. The rain was more than normally falls in the whole of August. The downpour caused slopes to collapse, touching off mudslides in at least 31 places in the area, government officials said. As of Thursday noon, more than 800 people had taken refuge at emergency shelters in Hiroshima, 700 kilometres south-west of Tokyo, as some families lost their homes and about 1,200 households had no water supply, the report said.
