Recovery of bodies underway in Venezuela

Authorities in Venezuela have begun burying the victims of last week's devastating floods in order to prevent the spread of disease.

Officials say they will never know the exact count of the dead. But they say it could be as many as 50,000.

Army engineers are starting to drive huge earthmovers through the debris to help search and clean-up efforts.

Entire towns along Venezuela's northern coast have disappeared. At least 150,000 people are homeless.

Worst hit by mudslides is a 95-kilometre swath of Vargas state, an area with once-popular beaches, not more than an hour's drive from the capital, Caracas. Officials have said most of Vargas state will have to be razed and turned into parks.

At Caracas' main cemetery, many workers are working long hours without pay as they dig row upon row of graves and wait for truckloads of the dead to arrive.

Venezuela's president says previous administrations have to take some of the blame for the death toll for allowing shanty towns to be built in flood areas.