TOKYO (AFP) - All five road construction workers who were buried in a landslide in northern Japan last week have been confirmed dead, with the last body recovered on Tuesday, the police said.

The crew was repairing a cracked road on a mountainous slope in Yurihonjo city in northern Akita prefecture when the road collapsed last Thursday, swallowing the workers along with their heavy machinery, a city official had told AFP.

Rescue crews struggled with the unstable condition of the slope and were only able to free the last two bodies overnight on Monday into Tuesday, a local police spokesman said.