Rescue teams have arrived at the site of an enormous landslide in Papua New Guinea‘s remote highlands, helping villagers search for hundreds of people feared dead under towering mounds of rubble and mud.
“At this time, we are still searching for bodies who are buried by the massive landslide,” community leader Mark Ipuia told Reuters news agency on Saturday, adding that “more than 300” villagers may be entombed.
So far, only four bodies have been pulled from the debris, a United Nations official based in the capital, Port Moresby, was quoted as saying.
The disaster hit Kaokalam village in Enga province early on Friday morning when many villagers were at home asleep, according to government officials.
According to Papua New Guinea media, at least 1,182 houses were also buried in the landslide in the area located about 600km (370 miles) northwest of Port Moresby.
“There are a lot of houses under the debris that cannot be reached,” said UN official Serhan Aktoprak, who estimated as many as 3,000 people called the hillside settlement home.
“The land continues to slide and move, and that makes it dangerous for people to operate,” he told AFP news agency.
While the area is not densely populated, humanitarian agency CARE said that it is worried that the death toll could be disproportionately high.
The landslide has also blocked highway access, making helicopters the only way to reach the area. The emergency team of medics, including military and police, also faced difficulty in reaching the area due to rugged terrain and damage to major roads.
In all, more than six villages had been affected by the landslide in the province’s Mulitaka region, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said on Saturday.
“Australia’s High Commission in Port Moresby is in close contact with PNG authorities for further assessments on the extent of the damage and casualties,” a DFAT spokesperson said in a statement.
Social media footage posted by villager Ninga Role showed people clambering over rocks, uprooted trees and mounds of dirt searching for survivors. Women could be heard weeping in the background.
Prime Minister James Marape has said disaster officials, the Defence Force and the Department of Works and Highways were assisting with relief and recovery efforts.
The South Pacific county is vulnerable to natural disasters, including heavy rain and flooding, as well as earthquakes.
In March, at least 23 people were killed by a landslide in a nearby province.
