Man Who Was Buried Alive Under 4 Meters Of Mud For 16 Hours Survives!

A Brazilian man has been rescued after being buried alive under 4m of mud for 16 hours.

Marcelo Fonseca, 42, became trapped when a mudslide ripped through his home near Teresopolis on Monday in Brazil's southeast during the worst floods in the country's history.

"When I opened the window I heard that loud thud and I only had time to run. When I ran and reached the front door it was such a powerful thing, that I only saw some pieces of the roof flying," he told Sky News today.

"My chest was being crushed by a stone and I was trapped — my two feet were trapped."

A journalist friend of Fonseca recorded the dramatic rescue but did not know who the victim was until Fonseco was placed on a stretcher.

The dramatic rescue came as the death toll from the disaster climbed above 700, with more bodies recovered from the devastated mountainous Serrana region near Rio de Janeiro.

Rio's state health and civil defence service, which gave the tally, also said around 14,000 people were homeless or unable to return to unstable areas.

The toll was likely to rise further in the days ahead as emergency crews backed by 700 military personnel used helicopters and four-wheel drives to access areas that have been cut off for days.

"I'm never going back there to live. Death will always be in that place," said Roberto Fabiano Augusto, a survivor rescued from the isolated village of Vale de Cuiaba.

More than 50 people died in his village, he said. His family managed to escape, but his neighbours did not. "A lot of my childhood friends died. I don't want to go back there to live," he told AFP after a helicopter brought him to the nearby town of Itaipava.

The man in charge of air rescues, Commander Luis Antonio Pinto Machado, said "there are still at least 10 areas cut off, which have populations from 500 to several thousand."

More with video HERE