Taipei, Aug 19 (DPA) Taiwan Wednesday stopped soldiers from searching for hundreds of villagers buried under mudslides using their own sense of smell after the interior minister said it was unhygienic and inefficient.

Interior Minister Liao Liao-yi expressed anger and shock after two newspapers carried photos showing soldiers crawling on all fours sniffing for corpses at several mudslide sites in Kaohsiung County in southern Taiwan. The rescue forces lack sniffer dogs.

Recovery of the victims was difficult because the dead are buried under 3-10 metres of mud and rocks from mudslides caused by Typhoon Morakot Aug 8. The storm left at least 127 dead, 45 injured and 307 missing.

One female solder said that since she did not know the smell of a corpse, another soldier led her to a corpse that had been dug up, so that she could smell it and remember the 'death smell'.