Grieving relatives have held roadside memorial services a week after Typhoon Morakot unleashed devastating floods and mudslides across Taiwan.
The official death toll rose to 121 but President Ma Ying-jeou has warned it could reach 500, with hundreds feared buried beneath the rubble in the village of Hsiaolin alone.
Hsiaolin was hit by a massive wall of mud that covered all but two houses - and officials now say an estimated 400 missing in the village were probably buried alive.
As the huge rescue operation continued on Saturday, weeping relatives set up makeshift shrines as close as possible to the devastated villages to honour the belief that the souls of the dead return home after seven days.
More than 50,000 troops are struggling to overcome raging rivers and fallen bridges to reach victims, many of whom have been without food and water since the typhoon struck central and southern parts of the country last weekend, causing Taiwan's worst flooding for 50 years.
Roads have been washed out, bridges swept away and low-rise buildings sent crashing into rivers. Many mountain villages can only be accessed by air.
Many of the worst-affected villages are inhabited by indigenous people who farm the mountainous terrain.
Thousands more people are believed to be stranded in remote settlements.
