An aerial picture shows members of Iraqi emergency services scanning the rubble for victims following a landslide at the Qattarat al-Imam Ali shrine, Karbala, Iraq, August 20, 2022. (Photo: CFP)

Iraqi rescue workers were battling to free several pilgrims trapped under rubble after a landslide hit a Shiite Muslim shrine in the central province of Karbala on Sunday.

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 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, the state news agency INA stated.