Iraq's rescue workers said on Sunday that five bodies had been pulled from the rubble of a Shiite shrine that was hit by a landslide in the central province of Karbala, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

Rescuers said the search for survivors would continue.

Three children had been rescued since Saturday's disaster, emergency services said, adding that they were in "good condition" and being monitored in a hospital. But it was feared that "between six and eight people are still caught" under the rubble of the shrine, known as Qattarat al-Imam Ali, civil defense spokesperson Nawas Sabah Shaker earlier told AFP.

Rescue teams working through the night under floodlights were able to provide supplies of oxygen as well as food and water to people trapped through gaps in the rubble, INA stated.

(With input from AFP)