Papua New Guinea: More than 670 killed by landslide, new local estimates say
One village was flattened and several others were affected by Friday's landslide in a province of the
country prone to outbreaks of violence.
More than 670 people have been killed by a landslide in northern Papua New Guinea, according to new calculations by local officials.
The landslide levelled the mountainous Kaokalam village in Enga Province - about 370 miles (600km) northwest of the capital Port Moresby
It hit the Pacific nation at around 3am local time on Friday (6pm on Thursday UK time), and local officials had initially put the number of dead at 100 or more.
Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the United Nations' International Organisation for Migration mission on the island nation, said the revised death toll was based on calculations by Yambali village and Enga provincial officials that over 150 homes had been buried. The previous estimate was 60 homes.
"They are estimating that more than 670 people [are] under the soil at the moment," he said.
More than 4,000 people were likely impacted by the disaster, said humanitarian group CARE
Australia.
Mulitaka region, according to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Three bodies were pulled from an area where 50 to 60 homes were destroyed. Six people, including a
child, were pulled from the rubble alive, the UN's Papua New Guinea office said.
But hopes of finding more survivors were diminishing.
The landslide left debris up to eight metres deep across 200 sq km (77 sq miles), cutting off road access, which was making relief efforts difficult. Helicopters were the only way to reach the area.
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