Massive landslide hits Papua New Guinea, many feared dead: ‘the mountain just collapsed’

A massive landslide struck remote villages in Papua New Guinea’s highlands Friday, with many homes buried and scores of villagers feared dead.

The disaster hit an isolated part of Enga province at around 3:00am local time, according to government officials, when many villagers were at home asleep.

Provincial governor Peter Ipatas said that “there has been a big landslide, causing loss of life and property”.

Three bodies have so far been recovered, but there are fears that hundreds more may be entombed. The true toll may take days or weeks to become clear.

Steven Kandai, a community leader at the scene, said that many residents had no time to flee.

“All of a sudden, there was a big landslip. The mountain just collapsed all of a sudden while people were still sleeping,” he said, adding their homes were “completely buried”.

Others “heard a huge sound from rocks falling down and then escaped. But some went to escape, on their way they were killed by falling trees, rolling rocks”, he said.

Images showed a scene of total devastation, with a vast bite of rock and soil cleaved from densely vegetated Mount Mungalo.

The slide left a wide scar of car-size boulders, felled trees and dirt that stretched down toward the valley floor.

The twisted remains of corrugated tin shelters and an overturned minibus could be seen at the foot of the rubble.

Dozens of local men and women scrambled over the piles of rock and soil, digging, crying out, listening for survivors or scanning the scene in disbelief.

Some became instant rescuers, donning wellington boots, strapping on head torches, picking up machetes and long-handled axes to help clear the rubble.

As they moved around, children carried on their mother’s backs could be heard crying.

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