(Ex, Afp)
At least six villages have been swept away by a huge landslide in a mountainous area of Papua New Guinea. Three bodies have been recovered so far, but the death toll is likely to be much higher, local authorities said May 24.
The disaster occurred around 3 am in the province of Enga, in the center of the country. A local official, Steven Kandai, confirmed the recovery of three bodies, but added that it would take days or even weeks for a definitive death toll.
The governor of the province Peter Ipatas said that “more than six villages were overwhelmed by the landslide”, speaking of an “unprecedented natural disaster”.
“I offer my sincere condolences to the families of the victims,” Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement.
“A rescue team comprising doctors, soldiers, police and UN officials has been sent to the scene,” he added.
According to an AFP photographer present on site, the landslide detached from Mount Mungalo.
“The mountain collapsed while the inhabitants were sleeping,” Kandai said. “Their homes were completely destroyed.”
Nickson Pakea, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the nearby mining town of Porgera, said there were almost three hundred people in the village of Kaokolam, one of the hardest hit, at the time of the landslide.
“More than a hundred houses have been destroyed in Kaokolam,” Vincent Pyati, president of a local association, told AFP.
According to Red Cross estimates, between one hundred and five hundred people may have been killed or injured.
