Papua New Guinea prime minister visits site of massive landslide estimated to have killed hundreds

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Papua New Guinea’s prime minister on Friday visited the site of a massive landslide that is estimated to have buried hundreds of villagers in the South Pacific island nation’s mountainous interior a week ago and where the ground too unstable for heavy earth-moving machines to help clear the mess.

James Marape told hundreds who had gathered near the devastated Yambali village that the list of governments and world leaders who had sent their condolences included the United States, China, India, France, Malaysia and the Czech Republic. First on the list was British King Charles III, Papua New Guinea’s constitutional head of state.

“My people are simple people. I want to say thank you for them to the global friends of PNG,” Marape said.

The first mechanized excavator arrived at the scene on Sunday but has not been permitted to start removing the boulders, rocks and splintered trees that have buried a 150-to-200 meter (500-to-650 foot) stretch of the Enga province’s main highway.

The nation’s military had expected up to 10 excavators and bulldozers to be on the scene this week to help villagers who have used spades and farming tools to painstakingly retrieve bodies from the rubble but have so far only found seven.

The United Nations estimates 670 villagers died in the disaster that immediately displaced 1,650 survivors. Papua New Guinea’s government has told the United Nations it thinks more than 2,000 people were buried.

Marape said geotechnical reports in recent days found the area remains unstable.

“That’s why we haven’t used heavy machinery in case it triggers something,” Marape said.

“A full assessment of the stability of the place will be carried out before we use heavy machinery,” he added.

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