Papua New Guinea landslide buries alive over 300 villagers

This handout photo by the International Organization for Migration on May 25, 2024 shows locals carrying a person on a stretcher from the site of a landslide at Yambali Village in the region of Maip Mulitaka, in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province. (Photo/AFP)

More than 300 people and over 1,100 houses have been buried by a massive landslide that levelled a remote village in northern Papua New Guinea, local media reported.

The landslide in the Pacific nation north of Australia buried more than 300 people and 1,182 houses, the Papua New Guinea Post Courier said on Saturday, citing comments from a member of the country's parliament, Aimos Akem.

Akem did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment via social media.

Rescue teams began to arrive at the disaster site in remote highlands, helping villagers search for loved ones under the towering mounds of rubble and mud.

Hundreds are feared dead in the landslide that hit Kaokalam village in Enga Province, about 600 km northwest of capital Port Moresby, around 3 am [local time] on Friday (1900 GMT on Thursday), when many villagers were at home asleep.

At least four bodies have been recovered, a United Nations official based in Papua New Guinea told AFP news agency on Saturday morning, but there are fears hundreds more may be entombed.

"While the area is not densely populated, our concern is that the death toll could be disproportionately high," humanitarian agency CARE said on Saturday as the first reinforcements began trickling into the site.

A rapid response team of medics, military, and police had reached the landslide in the morning, CARE said, a journey complicated by the rugged terrain and damage to major roads.

The Red Cross on Friday estimated that as many as 500 people could be injured or dead.

Steven Kandai, a community leader at the scene, told AFP that many residents had no time to flee.

"All of a sudden there was a big landslip. The mountain just collapsed all of a sudden while people were still sleeping," he said, adding their homes were "completely buried".

Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement that his government had sent officials from the country's disaster agency to meet Enga's provincial and district authorities, and carry out the rescue and relief efforts, as well as the reconstruction of infrastructure.

"I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the landslide disaster," he said.

Vast bite of earth

Images showed a scene of total devastation, with a vast bite of earth cleaved from densely vegetated Mount Mungalo.

The landslide left car-size boulders, felled trees and dirt that stretched down toward the valley floor.

The twisted remains of corrugated tin shelters and an overturned minibus could be seen at the foot of rubble.

Dozens of local men and women scrambled over the piles of rock and soil, digging, crying out, listening for survivors or scanning the scene in disbelief.

Sitting just south of the equator, the area is hit by frequent heavy rains.

In March, at least 23 people were killed by a landslide in a nearby province.

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Source: TRT