Venezuelan rescue workers on Wednesday said they had recovered at least 40 bodies around a remote mountain town hardest hit by floods and mudslides in the nation's western Andes. Torrential rains have burst river banks and swept away homes, bridges and roads, killing at least 96 people in Venezuela and neighboring Colombia in about a week. In Venezuela's western Merida State, authorities hunted for the missing while supplying food and water to Santa Cruz de Mora, where floods tore through villages and a terminal filled with buses and passengers. "I have 40 bodies from all sectors, not only in Santa Cruz, but downstream too they have found some bodies. ... Some are from the buses washed away by the river," Civil Protection chief Antonio Rivero said from Merida. "We are still searching ... officially there are 52 people reported missing," he said. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was scheduled to visit the Merida disaster area on Wednesday. Troops in helicopters and navy vessels evacuated thousands of stranded tourists and residents from Venezuela's coastal area last week after rains and mudslides blocked roads. --More 2249 Local Time 1949 GMT
