Rescue workers look for survivors after a mudslide in Petropolis, Brazil on February 16, 2022. Large-scale flooding destroyed hundreds of properties and claimed at least 94 lives in the area. Photo: AFP

Rescue workers pulled more bodies Saturday from the muddy wreckage left by devastating floods and landslides in the Brazilian city of Petropolis, where the death toll rose to 146, including 26 children.

In a dense fog, workers dug with spades and shovels through the rubble and muck as the search churned through its fifth day with little hope of finding more survivors.

An AFP photographer saw rescuers carrying out two recovered corpses in body bags in the hard-hit neighborhood of Alto da Serra, as relatives sobbed in the street.

In the heart of the disaster zone, rescue workers occasionally blew loud whistles to call for silence and listen for signs of life.

But authorities say there is little hope at this point of finding survivors from Tuesday's torrential rains.

The downpour turned streets to gushing rivers in the picturesque city in the southeastern mountains, and triggered landslides in poor hillside neighborhoods that wiped out virtually everything in their path.

Officials say 24 people have been rescued alive, but that came mostly in the early hours after the tragedy.

Rio de Janeiro state police said 218 people remained missing as of late Friday.

Meanwhile, 91 of the 146 bodies recovered so far have been identified, according to the police.

Many of the missing may be among the unidentified bodies. But the numbers have been hazy, and it is difficult to know how high the death toll could go.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who flew over the disaster zone Friday, said the city was suffering from "enormous destruction, like scenes of war."

AFP