"Twenty-four houses and 17 people were buried in the landslide," Sivas Governor Hasan Canpolat told the Anatolia news agency.

"We are facing a great disaster," he said. "Rescue efforts are being carried out in difficult conditions."

Dozens of rescuers and earth-moving machines were dispatched to the stricken area about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of Ankara, but small landslides continued, preventing the use of the machines, Canpolat said.

The rescuers, who could use only small instruments such as shovels, were expected to continue working throughout the night.

Seven people were hospitalized with injuries, a crisis desk in Ankara said.

"When I heard that big noise I thought warplanes were passing over the village," the local imam, Hamit Keskin, told Anatolia. "When I went out I saw the mountains coming down on me and I started running."

The province's deputy governor Ali Manti told AFP that the landslide was caused by heavy rains unsettling the mushy ground typical of the region.

The site was previously declared risky for settlement by local civil construction authorities, but residents refused to evacuate their homes perched on a slope, Canpolat said.

The Red Crescent sent tents and humanitarian supplies to the village.

Another landslide ocurred in Ulubey, in the neighboring province of Ordu, but there were no reports of casualties, Anatolia said.

It struck a neighborhood that had been partially evacuated since 2000 due to the risk of landslides.

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