An elderly woman and three children were feared dead following a landslide in Hulu Klang, Kuala Lumpur, that destroyed 43 homes, police and rescuers said today.

"Four people are believed to be trapped in the landslide - one adult and three children. We are not sure if they are still alive," a district police spokesman told AFP .

Witnesses saw one body removed from the debris, wrapped in plastic and carried on a stretcher by rescuers who were using an earthmover to shift the mountain of soil as they searched for any survivors.

The spokesman said 43 houses were destroyed in the afternoon landslide in a squatter settlement in a hilly area of Kuala Lumpur's northeastern suburbs, where landslides are not uncommon.

Emergency crews said the destroyed homes were simple, one-storey dwellings mostly made of wood with corrugated iron roofs.

"One of the victims was an elderly woman," a fire and rescue department official said.

Hundreds of people including shocked residents milled around at the scene as workers using headlights fixed to their helmets picked through wood, iron sheeting and other debris in a search that appeared increasingly futile.

The settlement was one of many semi-rural villages dotted on the outskirts of the capital. Chickens released from coops ruined in the disaster wandered around in the dark.

Heavy rains

In 1993 a landslide triggered by heavy rains caused the nearby 12-storey Highland Towers condominium to collapse killing 48 people - mostly children and maids who were left at home while parents were at work.

Two other neighbouring blocks were declared unsafe, forcing 1,000 residents to move out.

The latest landslide is likely to be linked to the unusually heavy rains that have hit Malaysia in recent months. Experts blame the unseasonal violent storms on rising temperatures from global warming.

Malaysia has endured almost daily thunderstorms over the past few months, and lightning strikes have set buildings alight and killed several people.

The climatic extremes are believed to be related to the cyclical La Nina, a weather phenomenon that affects the sea surface temperature in the central and eastern tropical Pacific.