At least 18 bodies have been retrieved by rescuers in three barangays in Baybay, Leyte after nonstop rains since Sunday triggered landslides, but one barangay has been reported to be covered by mud, a local official said Tuesday.

Baybay Mayor Jose Carlos Cari told Radyo5 said 14 bodies were recovered from Barangay Mailhi. Police added that three bodies were found in Barangay Katagnos and one in Barangay Bunga.

Cari said they received a report that 156 households were buried in another landslide in Barangay Katagnos. ''The whole barangay has been submerged,'' he said.

''It has been raining strongly since Sunday and the soil is saturated,'' said Cari. ''Rescuers cannot enter because of rain.''

The mud, he said, rolled down the mountain. He denied there is quarrying in the mountain.

Twenty persons have been reported missing in the three affected barangays, added Cari.

Cari said there are 200 persons in evacuation centers and 100 injured are being treated in hospitals.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council said it is verifying these reports. So far, it has reported three casualities from ''Agaton'', which is now a tropical depression.

Interior and Secretary Eduardo Ano said in Monday night's Talk to The People, that search and rescue as well as retrieval operations of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are ongoing in the landslide-hit areas.

He noted that the soft ground caused by the rains has slowed down the operations. DMS