Officials and media on the South Pacific Island nation of Papua New Guinea said Friday more than 100 people are feared dead after a landslide buried a remote village.
Officials and witnesses said the landslide reportedly hit Kaokalam village in Enga province, about 600 kilometers northwest of the capital of Port Moresby, at about 3 a.m. local time. A local community official told the French news agency he believed about 100 homes were buried.
Video and images from the scene show rescuers searching for survivors amid large boulders and trees on a steep hillside.
In an interview, Papua New Guinea Red Cross official Janet Philemon told the U.S. news channel CNN the number of people killed or missing is “very fluid,” but more than 100 people are believed to be dead.
Philemon said the landslide has blocked a portion of the main highway leading into the community, limiting access to the village, so locals were acting as first responders. She said it is unclear what caused the landslide, although the area gets frequent rain.
In a statement, Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape said his government has sent disaster officials to the landslide site to “start relief work, recovery of bodies, and reconstruction of infrastructure.” He expressed his condolences to the families.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
