JAKARTA -- Rescue workers have retrieved two more bodies beneath rocks and mudslides that buried villagers in the eastern Indonesian island of Flores last week, bringing the death toll to 50, with 28 others still missing and believed dead, officials said Sunday.

Iskandar Mberu, secretary of the Ende district administration, said two more bodies were found over the weekend in Ndona village, one of the areas in Flores hit hardest by mudslides and landslides after heavy rains that pounded the island since last Monday. Mberu said a total of 13 villagers in Ndona village were buried alive by rocks and mud or swept away but flood waters. "There are still 17 other residents unaccounted for and believed to have died."

"We are trying our utmost to find the missing persons. Most of the people here believe that only a miracle could have kept them alive, because they have been buried under tons of rocks and mud," Mberu said.

Flores officials have blamed the landslides on deforestation, especially in the island's highlands, DPA reported.

Mudslides and the flash floods have buried or swept away more than 150 homes and damaged 300 others on Flores island, 1,660 kilometers east of Jakarta, said Nani K. spokesman of the east Nusa Tenggara Province.

Fatalities reported from other districts included 10 in east flores, 15 were dead in sikka, four in Ngada, four in Manggarai and three in Atambua, the spokesman said.

Flash floods also killed one person in Kupang, the provincial capital of east Nusa Tenggara located in the western part of Timor island, local officials said.

He said 28 villagers were still listed as missing and believed dead, either buried under tons of rocks and soil or swept away by flood waters.

Land communications were restored in some district areas, while in some other areas remained paralyzed because flood waters and mudslides have washed away or covered several roads, he added.

The government started flying in emergency assistance to the hardest-hit villages on Friday. It was not the worst natural disaster to hit Flores in recent history. In 1992 the island was rocked by an earthquake that claimed 2,500 lives and in 1988 heavy rains caused floods and landslides that claimed at least 17 lives.