Over 670 dead after massive landslide in Papua New Guinea

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea:

More than 670 people are believed to have died after a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea, a UN official told AFP on Sunday, as aid workers and villagers braved dangerous conditions in their desperate search for survivors.

“It is estimated that over 150 houses are currently buried,” said Serhan Aktoprak, an official at the UN migration agency, adding that “over 670 people are believed to be dead.”

“The situation is terrible, the land is still slipping. The water is running and that poses a huge risk to everyone involved,” added Aktoprak, who lives in Port Moresby.

The once bustling mountain village in Enga province was almost completely destroyed by a landslide in the early hours of Friday morning, burying dozens of houses and the people sleeping in them.

“People are using digging sticks, spades and large forks to recover the bodies buried underground,” Aktoprak said.

More than 1,000 people have been left homeless by the disaster, he added, and vegetable gardens and water supplies have been almost completely destroyed.

Aid organizations and local politicians initially feared that between 100 and 300 people could have died in the disaster.

The death toll was revised upward when local disaster relief workers realized that there were more people living in the village than initially thought, Aktoprak said.

– Disaster area –

The village was home to over 4,000 people and served as a trading post for gold miners who were mining for gold in the highlands.

By Saturday night, five bodies had been recovered from the rubble.

Tribal fighting had broken out along the only remaining route into the disaster area.

While Aktoprak said the violence had “nothing to do with the landslide,” Papua New Guinea’s military was providing a “security escort” to ensure the safe passage of aid convoys.

In some places the landslide – a mixture of car-sized boulders, uprooted trees and disturbed earth – is said to have been eight metres deep.

Locals said the landslide may have been triggered by heavy rains that have drenched the region in recent weeks.

According to the World Bank, Papua New Guinea has one of the wettest climates in the world, with the heaviest rainfall concentrated in the humid highland regions.

The images showed barefoot workers moving earth with shovels and axes, while others dug into the piles of corrugated iron that had once provided shelter.

The urgently needed heavy machinery is expected to arrive at the construction site on Sunday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)