Molave killed at least 35 people and more than 50 are missing.

The immediate focus for rescuers is on three villages in the country's central region where landslides killed at least 19 people and are suspected of burying more than 40 others in thick mud and debris.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung travelled to the site of one slip where soldiers were working to clear debris with bulldozers and ordered officers to urgently send more troops to help.

"We must reach the landslide site the fastest way. First, send in more soldiers before we can get the big machine there. We have to reach the area by all means, including by using helicopters," he said.

Also among the dead were 12 fishermen whose boats sank on Wednesday as Molave approached with winds of up to 150 km/h. Another 14 fisherman are still missing.

Officials say the death toll across the country may rise as some regions have been unable to report details of damage and casualties.

Rescuers dug up eight bodies on Thursday morning in Tra Van village in Quang Nam province where a hillside collapsed on houses.

The victims had taken shelter in the community as the typhoon approached, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.

In Tra Leng village, about 45 km away, another landslide buried a community with several houses occupied by about 45 people.

Four escaped, while rescuers recovered eight bodies and later pulled out four villagers alive, including two children.

The survivors freed from the thick brown debris were brought to a hospital with arm and leg fractures and other injuries. Rescuers continued a frantic search for at least 33 others believed buried.

Tra Leng was initially inaccessible due to damaged roads, flooding and other landslides but by Thursday afternoon government disaster-response teams were able to open up a road with bulldozers and excavators and brought in more rescuers and heavy equipment.

As troops scrambled to rescue those buried alive in Tra Leng, another part of a rain-soaked mountainside cascaded down in a torrent of mud in nearby Phuoc Loc district, killing three people and trapping 11.

Elsewhere, four people were killed by falling trees and collapsed houses in Quang Nam and Gia Lai provinces when the typhoon slammed into the coast Wednesday.

The typhoon blew roofs off about 56,000 houses and caused a massive blackout, with 1.7 million people forced to endure the onslaught in darkness.

The typhoon left at least 16 people dead in the Philippines before moving across the South China Sea.

Australian Associated Press