UN agency: More than 670 dead feared in landslide in Papua New Guinea

The United Nations migration agency estimates that more than 670 people have died in the massive landslide in Papua New Guinea, while rescue efforts are still ongoing.

Media in the South Pacific state north of Australia had previously estimated that Friday’s landslide had buried more than 300 people.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) had previously stated that only five bodies had been recovered from the rubble.

The agency based its death toll estimates on information from officials in Yambali village in Enga province, who said more than 150 houses were submerged in Friday’s landslide, Serhan Aktoprak, head of the agency’s mission in Papua New Guinea, said in an emailed statement.

More than six villages were affected by the landslide in the province’s Mulitaka region, about 600 kilometers from the capital Port Moresby, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

“The ground is still slipping, rocks are falling, the ground is cracking due to the ever-increasing pressure and groundwater is flowing. Therefore, the area poses an extreme risk for everyone,” Aktoprak said.

More than 250 nearby homes were abandoned by residents who had temporarily taken shelter with relatives and friends, and about 1,250 people were displaced, the agency said.

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

According to the IOM, more than 100 houses, a primary school, small shops and stalls, a guest house and a petrol station were buried.

The UN office in Papua New Guinea said three bodies had been recovered from an area where 50 to 60 houses had been destroyed, while six people, including a child, were pulled alive from the rubble.

It said many of those buried had not yet been found as search and rescue efforts continued in the mountainous region of the country, which shares the island of New Guinea with Indonesia.

Aid group CARE Australia said late Saturday that nearly 4,000 people lived in the affected zone, but the number of those affected was likely higher as the area was “a refuge for people displaced by conflict in surrounding areas.”

In February, at least 26 men were killed in an ambush during tribal violence in Enga province, prompting Prime Minister James Marape to give the country’s military arrest powers.

The landslide left debris up to eight meters high over an area of ​​200 square kilometers, cutting off road access and hampering relief efforts, CARE said.

ABC News reported that the area could only be reached by helicopter.

Aid agencies have said more homes could be at risk if the landslide continues to move down the mountain as the terrain remains unstable.

Marape said disaster management officials, the armed forces and the Works and Highways Department would assist in relief and reconstruction efforts.

Footage posted on social media by villager Ninga Role showed people climbing over rocks, uprooted trees and piles of dirt in search of survivors.

In the background you could hear women crying.