Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has expressed his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of a huge landslide that hit a remote village, The Independent reports.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that the landslide came down while people were sleeping, around 3 a.m. local time, passing through Kaokalam village in Enga province.
Residents said current estimates of the death toll exceed 100, although authorities have yet to confirm the figure.
Villagers say the death toll could be much higher. Videos have emerged on social media showing locals retrieving buried bodies from the ground.
Houses levelled to the ground, locals say
Elizabeth Laruma, who heads a women’s business association in Porgera, a town in the same province near the Porgera gold mine, said homes flattened when the side of the mountain gave way. Ms. Laruma told ABC news:
“It has occurred when people were still asleep in the early hours, and the entire village has gone down. From what I can presume, it’s about 100-plus people who are buried beneath the ground.”
She also said the landslide blocked the road between Porgera and the village, raising concerns about the supply of fuel and goods to the town.
A villager, Ninga Role, who was away when the landslide occurred, expects at least four of his relatives to have died. Ms. Role also added:
“There are some huge stones and plants, trees. The buildings collapsed. These things are making it hard to find the bodies fast.”
Papua New Guinea government and police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Papua New Guinea is a diverse, developing country of mostly subsistence farmers and 800 languages are spoken. There are few roads outside the major cities. With a population of 10 million, it is the most populous country in the South Pacific after Australia, with 27 million people.
