The rivers of mud which devastated towns and city districts around Messina last week have begun to dry hampering the search for missing victims, rescuers in Sicily said Tuesday. During a Monday night television interview, civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso said he was ''fairly certain there are ten bodies buried beneath the mud and rubble'' and that the current death toll of 25 was unlikely to rise above 50 as some rescuers had predicted.

Police dogs have been used in the hunt for bodies, some of which were dragged hundreds of meters and buried beneath the mud, rescuers said. But after the sky over northeastern Sicily cleared for the first time in four days on Monday night, the mud began to dry rendering the search more difficult. Local officials say some 705 evacuees are being housed in Messina hotels while around 30 injured are still in hospital. Mayor Giuseppe Buzzanca has confirmed that funeral services for the flood victims would be held on Saturday at Messina's cathedral. During a visit to the Sicilian city Monday, Senate Speaker Renato Schifani told residents left homeless by the floods ''you will all have houses.

The government kept its word (after the April 6 earthquake) in Abruzzo and it will do the same here in Sicily''. Also in Messina on Monday, the secretary of the opposition Democratic Party, Dario Franceschini, said the tragedy was the result of a country ''devastated by amnesties on illegal building''.