Rescue teams arrived at the scene of a large landslip in Papua New Guinea’s remote highlands on Saturday, assisting villagers in their hunt for hundreds of people believed dead beneath towering heaps of rubble and muck.
According to government officials, the calamity struck an isolated area of Enga province around 3:00 a.m. on Friday, while many locals were sleeping at home.
“At this time, we are still searching for bodies buried by the massive landslip”, said community leader Mark Ipuia, who suspected more than 300 locals had been entombed.
A UN official stationed in the capital Port Moresby said on Saturday morning that at least four remains had been recovered so far from the wreckage.
“There are a lot of houses under the debris that cannot be reached”, said UN official Serhan Aktoprak, who estimated that the hillside village housed up to 3,000 people.
“The land continues to slide and move, and that makes it dangerous for people to operate”, Aktoprak added.
Aid organizations reported that the village’s vegetable gardens, livestock, and clean water sources had all been destroyed by the natural catastrophe.
On Saturday morning, a rapid response team of medics, military, and police began rushing into the disaster zone, their journey hindered by rugged terrain and extensive road damage.
“While the area is not densely populated, we are concerned that the death toll will be disproportionately high”, humanitarian charity CARE said Saturday, as the first reinforcements arrived.
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