Emergency crews in Papua New Guinea move survivors of massive landslide to safer ground

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Emergency responders in Papua New Guinea were moving survivors of a massive landslide — feared to have buried scores of people — to safer ground on Sunday as tons of unstable earth and tribal warfare, which is rife in the country’s Highlands, threatened the rescue effort.

The South Pacific island’s government meanwhile is considering whether it needs to officially request more international support.

Crews have given up hope of finding survivors under earth and rubble 6 to 8 meters (20 to 26 feet) deep after a landslide wiped out part of Yambali village in Enga province a few hours before dawn on Friday, said Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the International Organization for Migration’s mission in Papua New Guinea.

Local authorities initially estimated the death toll could be around 100, but others fear many more have died.

“Hopes to take the people out alive from the rubble have diminished now,” Aktoprak told The Associated Press.

“People are coming to terms with this so there is a serious level of grieving and mourning,” he added.

Only fives bodies had been dug out of the debris by hand by late Saturday, with heavy earth-moving equipment yet to arrive at the mountainous location 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of the capital, Port Moresby.

Estimates of homes destroyed were revised up from 60 on Saturday to more than 100 on Sunday.

Government authorities were establishing evacuation centers on safer ground on either side of the massive swathe of debris that covers an area the size of three to four football fields and has cut the main highway through the province.

“Working across the debris is very dangerous and the land is still sliding,” Aktoprak said.

Besides the blocked highway, convoys that