More than 100 people are said to have died in a landslide in Papua New Guinea, Australian media reports

MELBOURNE, Australia — More than 100 people are believed to have died in a landslide that buried a village in a remote region of Papua New Guinea on Friday, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The landslide reportedly hit the village of Kaokalam in Enga province, about 600 kilometers northwest of the South Pacific island nation’s capital, Port Moresby, at about 3 a.m. local time (15:00 GMT), ABC reported.

Residents currently believe the death toll is over 100, although authorities have not confirmed this figure. Villagers say the death toll could be much higher.

Videos on social media show locals digging up bodies buried under rocks and trees.

The Papua New Guinea government and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Elizabeth Laruma heads an association of women entrepreneurs in Porgera, a town in the same province near the Porgera gold mine. She said houses in the village were razed when a mountain side gave way.

“It happened when people were still sleeping in the early hours of the morning and the whole village was destroyed,” Laruma told ABC. “As far as I know, over 100 people are buried underground.”

The landslide has blocked the road between Porgera and the village, she said, raising concerns about the town’s supply of fuel and goods.

Villager Ninga Role, who was not at home at the time of the landslide, believes at least four of his relatives were killed.

“There are huge rocks, plants and trees. The buildings have collapsed,” Role said. “These things make it difficult to find the bodies quickly.”

Belinda Kora, an ABC reporter from Port Moresby, said there had been no official comment from authorities more than 12 hours after the disaster.

Kora said the village in the mountainous interior known as the Highlands could only be reached by helicopter because the main road was closed.

Papua New Guinea is a diverse developing country, with a population predominantly made up of subsistence farmers and 800 languages ​​spoken. There are few roads outside of the larger cities.

With 10 million inhabitants, it is also the most populous country in the South Pacific after Australia, where about 27 million people live.

Telecommunications are poor, especially outside Port Moresby, where 56% of the country’s social media users live, according to government data. Only 1.66 million people across the country use the internet, and 85% of the population lives in rural areas.