http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/10/08/stan.ap/index.html

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AP) -- A thundering river of mud, rock and
uprooted trees poured down a volcano towering over the Mayan town of
Panabaj in western Guatemala, engulfing everything in its path.

The landslide was believed to be the worst single disaster in several days
of flooding that have killed hundreds in Central America and southern
Mexico.

Guatemala's President Oscar Berger Saturday flew over the remnants of the
town of 800 that was wiped out by the massive landslide.

All residents are feared dead, but authorities still cannot access the
town because of the bad weather.

After the aerial tour of the devastated area, Berger said he had never
seen anything like it.

Two U.S. military Black Hawks are also flying over the area, trying to
find a break in clouds to land the aircraft.

It's the rainy season in Guatemala, which is compounding the devastation
from Hurricane Stan, which wreaked havoc on Central America in the middle
of the week.

Firefighters and volunteers used hoes, pickaxes, machetes and their bare
hands to tear into a hulking mass of mud more than two miles long, pulling
out bodies large and small, young and old.

Guatemala bore the brunt of heavy rains exacerbated by Hurricane Stan,
which made landfall Tuesday in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, Mexico,
before quickly weakening into a tropical depression.

Oscar Sanchez, a spokesman for volunteer firefighters nationwide, said
hundreds had died in the communities around Lake Atitlan.

Hundreds more may still be buried under the mud, said Benedicto Giron, a
spokesman for the National Agency for Disaster Reduction.

'There was nothing left'
Rafael Estrada, 63, was working as a custodian on the second floor of a
school in Panabaj, one of eight largely Mayan towns that ring the lake,
when the mudslide began.

"There was a noise that would scare anyone, a roar," said Estrada, who
lost his sister, two nephews and at least two other relatives.

"I thought the volcano had erupted," Estrada said. "I thought 'it's
already taken my family' and I could only wait for it to take me too."

In a flash, the ground floor of the school was swallowed in mud while only
the roofs of the houses around it were visible.

"There was nothing left," Estrada said.

The tragedy set in motion a fierce struggle by Mayan communities to locate
the bodies of loved ones in line with ancient traditions that demand
proper burial.

'These are our brothers'
Ramon Noj, a 31-year-old farmer, spent Friday digging for his niece,
4-year-old Ana Castro.

"We can't allow her to remain here," he said in halting Spanish. "No one
must be left behind. Everyone should be together in the cemetery."

Domingo Ramirez, 31, was among a small army of volunteers who grabbed
poles, picks or anything else they could get their hands on and joined the
search.

"These are our brothers, our friends," he said. "And they're dead."

In all, more than 270 Guatemalan communities have been affected by the
floods and landslides and at least 30,000 people have moved to shelters.

In neighboring El Salvador, at least 67 people were killed and more than
62,000 had been evacuated because of flooding and landslides.

"If they don't come and give us aid, we are going to die with our children
in the middle of all this water," said Maria Elena Crotez, 44, who was
waiting in line for donated bread.

Crotez lost her home after a river 45 miles outside San Salvador, the
capital, overflowed, washing away everything in the area.

More rain predicted in Mexico
Mexican President Vicente Fox traveled to Chiapas, on his country's border
with Guatemala, where officials raised the death toll to 10 late Friday.

"It's hard, it's so hard," Fox said in a live television interview from
the city of Tapachula, where the power was still out. "I can understand
why the people are crying. Why they yell for help."

The rains began to subside Friday, allowing water from swollen rivers that
engulfed towns to subside some. Dazed residents returned to homes and
businesses that were mostly under water or destroyed completely.

Officials cautioned that weather patterns were likely to bring new rain to
southern Mexico and Central America this weekend.

Shelters in Tapachula and throughout Chiapas were packed with families who
begged officials for food, water and clothing. Many were forced to sleep
on the floor of schools and government buildings.

Fox planned to spend Saturday touring devastated areas in Chiapas and
Oaxaca, where officials said three people were killed. Six people died in
Veracruz, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Stan.