More than 670 people have been killed by a landslide in northern Papua New Guinea on Friday, according to new calculations by local officials.
The landslide hit the Pacific nation at around 3am local time on Friday (7pm on Thursday UK time) and levelled the mountainous Kaokalam village in Enga Province – about 370 miles (600km) northwest of the capital Port Moresby.
Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the United Nations’ (UN) International Organization for Migration mission on the island nation, said the revised number of dead is based on calculations by Yambali village and Enga provincial officials that more than 150 homes had been buried. The previous estimate had been 60 homes.
The UN estimated on Sunday that more than 4,000 people have been impacted after more than a thousand homes were buried.
According to Australia‘s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), more than six villages were hit by the landslide in the province’s Mulitaka region.
Three bodies were pulled from an area where 40 to 50 homes were destroyed. Six people, including a child, were pulled from the rubble alive, reports say.
Survivors searched through tonnes of earth and rubble by hand looking for missing relatives while a first emergency convoy delivered food, water and other provisions on Saturday.
But Mr Aktoprak added on Sunday: “Hopes to take the people out alive from the rubble have diminished now.”
Locals carry their belongings away from the scene of the landslide. Pic: Reuters
Friday’s landslide has left debris up to eight metres deep across 200 sq km, cutting off road access, which was making relief efforts difficult. Helicopters are the only way to reach the area.
“More homes could be at risk if the landslide continues down the mountain,” a spokesperson for the humanitarian group CARE Australia said in a statement.
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In February, at least 26 men were killed in Enga Province in an ambush amid tribal violence that prompted Prime Minister James Marape to give arrest powers to the country’s military.
Mr Marape has said disaster officials, the defence force and the department of works and highways were assisting with relief and recovery efforts.
Papua New Guinea is a diverse, developing nation of mostly subsistence farmers with 800 languages. There are few roads outside the larger cities.
With around 10 million people, it is the most populous South Pacific nation after Australia, which is home to around 27 million.
It is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where much of the world’s earthquake and volcanic activity occurs.
In March, the country was hit by a 6.9-magnitude earthquake.
The United States and Australia are building closer defence ties with the strategically important nation, while China is also seeking closer security and economic ties.
US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said their governments stood ready to help respond to the landslide.