UN fears more than 670 feared buried

More than 670 people died in Papua New Guinea’s massive landslide, the UN migration agency estimated on Sunday as rescue efforts continued.

Media in the South Pacific nation had previously estimated Friday’s landslide had buried more than 300 people. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said earlier on Sunday that only five bodies had been retrieved from the rubble.

The agency based its death toll estimates on information provided by officials at Yambali Village in the Enga province, who say more than 150 houses were buried in Friday’s landslide, Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the agency’s mission in Papua New Guinea said in an email statement.

More than six villages have been impacted by the landslide in the province’s Mulitaka region, about 600 km from the capital Port Moresby, said Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“Land is still sliding, rocks are falling, ground soil is cracking due to constant increased pressure and ground water is running … posing an extreme risk for everyone,” Aktoprak said.

More than 250 houses nearby have been abandoned by the inhabitants, who had taken temporary shelter with their relatives and friends, and some 1250 people have been displaced, the agency said.

“People are using digging sticks, spades, large agricultural forks to remove the bodies buried under the soil,” Aktoprak said.

The IOM said more than 100 houses, an elementary school, small businesses and stalls, a guesthouse, and a petrol station were buried.