Torrent of red mud sweeps down Rio de Janeiro hillside and kills 280

Torrential rain sent tons of red earth sliding into mountain towns near Rio de Janeiro, killing at least 287 people and leaving dozens more missing.

In the hardest-hit town of Teresopolis, where at least 146 people died, hundreds crowded around the town's morgue waiting to identify bodies.

Before rescue attempts were called off because of darkness, searchers used heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands trying to find survivors. In one town, firemen rescued a 25-year-old man who held his six-month-old son for 15 hours until they were both pulled out alive. The man's wife and mother-in-law were feared dead.

In Teresopolis, 40 miles north of Rio, deluges filled creeks and the overflows swept down water-logged mountainsides. Brick and wooden shacks built on hillsides stripped of trees washed away in surging earth and water, leaving behind a long trail of mud.

The mountains saw 10 inches of rain fall in less than 24 hours. Survivors waded through waist-high water, carrying what belongings they could, trying to reach higher ground. Three firemen were listed as missing after their fire engine was hit by a mudslide.

"There are so many disappeared — and so many that will probably never be found," said Angela Marina de Carvalho Silva, a resident of Teresopolis who feared she may have lost 15 relatives, including five nieces and nephews. "There was nothing we could do. It was hell."

Carvalho Silva took refuge in a neighbour's house on high ground with her husband and daughter, and watched the rain carry away cars, trees and animals and rip apart homes. "It's over. There's nothing. The water came down and swept everything away," said her husband, Sidney Silva.

Heavy rains and mudslides kill hundreds of people across Brazil each year, especially during the summer. The worst hit are the poor, whose shanty homes are often built on steep slopes with weak or no foundations.