Three more bodies have been found on Sunday afternoon at the site of a mining area landslide in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, rescuers said.

Although the bodies have not been pulled out due to debris blocking rescuers' access, their discovery means that a total of five bodies have been found since the landslide occurred more than 50 hours ago in Maizhokunggar County, about 68 km from regional capital Lhasa.

In two locations near the area where the three bodies were found, rescuers retrieved articles such as tents, clothes and kitchen knives, according to rescuers.

That has led them to believe more miners might be buried under debris at these two locations.

The disaster struck a workers' camp of the Jiama Copper Polymetallic Mine at about 6 a.m. on Friday, burying 83 workers and 11 machineries from Tibet Huatailong Mining Development Co. Ltd. The company is a subsidiary of China National Gold Group Corporation, the country's largest gold producer.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on Friday ordered exhaustive efforts to rescue the buried workers

On Saturday, rescuers managed to recover two bodies in the same area, as the huge amount of debris, 4,600-meter altitude and snowy weather hampered rescue efforts. The survival chances of the missing miners are believed slim.

Yang Dongliang, the head of China's state administration of work safety, said a specialist team had been formed to investigate the cause of the landslide.

"We should ensure that rescuers not to be put in danger. The possibility of another landslide remains high. So we're monitoring the situation from nearby, and looking out for signs of further landslides. We have a number of experts looking into the cause of the accident, and the results of their investigation will be released to the public," Yang said.

Around three and a half thousand rescuers have been using heavy machinery to try to find the men. Yang said the priority was still to find survivors. Some of the tents that the workers were sleeping in at the time of the accident have reportedly been found. But local weather conditions, including cold air and snowfall are making the work more difficult.

(CNTV.cn, Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2013)