Eight people have been killed after a wall of mud and debris completely destroyed a small riverside neighbourhood in north-western Washington state.  At least 18 people are still missing, though authorities warned on Sunday night local time that there may be more unaccounted for.  A spokesman for the Snohomish county sheriff's office said a total of eight bodies had been found in the square mile (2.6 square km) of tangled debris, rocks, trees and mud by nightfall.  Snohomish fire chief Travis Hots told an earlier news conference: "We didn't find anybody alive. There was no sign of life" after a search of much of the area on foot.  The tally of missing was likely to grow, Hots said. The rescue mission was to halt at dusk because of treacherous, quicksand-like conditions, and would resume at dawn on Monday, Hots said.  Some rescue workers had been mired in mud up to their armpits and had to be dragged to safety, authorities said.  Crews were able to get out to the muddy, tree-strewn area after geologists few over in a helicopter and determined it was safe enough for emergency responders and technical rescue personnel to search for possible survivors, said Hots.  Several people, including an infant, were critically injured in the mudslide that hit Saturday morning about 55 miles north of Seattle. About 30 homes were destroyed.  As crews searched the quicksand-like mud below, concerns remained about a blocked river in the area that threatened to flood homes.  Rescuers' hopes of finding more survivors had risen on Saturday when they heard people yelling for help from within the debris field, but they were unable to reach anyone. The mud was so thick and deep that searchers had to turn back.  "We have this huge square-mile mudflow that's basically like quicksand, it's extremely fluid," Hots said.  The slide wiped through what neighbours described as a former fishing village of small homes – some nearly 100 years old. The neighbourhood was not there anymore, Hots added.  Some of the missing may have been able to get out on their own, authorities said. The number unaccounted for could change because some people may have been in cars and on roads when the slide hit, Hots said.  Officials described the mudslide as "a big wall of mud and debris." It was reported about 18 metres deep in some areas.  Authorities believe the slide was caused by ground made unstable by recent heavy rainfall.  The slide blocked the north fork of the Stillaguamish river. With the water rising rapidly behind the debris, authorities worried about downstream flooding and issued an evacuation notice Saturday. The water had begun to seep through the blockage by Sunday afternoon.  Snohomish County officials said on Sunday that residents could return home during daylight hours, but that they would probably reissue the evacuation order on Sunday night.  John Pennington, the director of Snohomish County Emergency Management Department, said there were concerns that the water could break downstream, as well as back up and flood areas upstream.  Shari Ireton, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County sheriff's office, said Sunday that a total of eight people were injured in the slide.  A 6-month-old boy and an 81-year-old man remained in critical condition Sunday morning at Harborview Medical Centre in Seattle. Susan Gregg, the hospital spokeswoman said two men, ages 37 and 58, were in serious condition, while a 25-year-old woman had been upgraded to satisfactory condition.  Bruce Blacker, who lives close to the scene of the slide, side he didn't know where six of his neighbours were.  "It's a very close knit community," Blacker said as he waited at an Arlington roadblock before troopers let him through. There were almost 20 homes in the destroyed neighbourhood, he said.
Wall of mud in north-west of Washington state, near Seattle, destroys 30 homes and leaves several people critically injured