Melbourne, Australia – More than 100 people are believed to have died Friday in a landslide that buried a village in a remote part of Papua New Guinea, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
The landslide reportedly struck the village of Kaokalam in Enga province, about 600 kilometers northwest of the South Pacific island capital Port Moresby, at around 3 a.m. local time, ABC reported.
Residents say current estimates of the death toll are above 100, although authorities have not confirmed that figure. Villagers said the number of deaths could be much higher.
Videos on social media show locals pulling out bodies buried under rocks and trees.
STR/AFP via Getty Images
The Papua New Guinea government and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Elizabeth Laruma, who heads a women’s business association in Porgera, a town in the same province near the Porgera gold mine, said village houses were razed when the side of a mountain gave way.
“It happened when people were still sleeping in the early hours and the whole village collapsed,” Laruma told ABC. “As far as I can guess, it’s about a hundred people buried underground.”
The landslide blocked the road between Porgera and the village, she said, raising concerns about the town’s own supply of fuel and goods.
Villager Ninga Role, who was away when the landslide struck, expects at least four of his relatives to have been killed.
“There are some huge rocks and plants, trees. The buildings have collapsed,” Role said. “These things make it difficult to find the bodies quickly.”
STR/AFP via Getty Images
Reuters reports that local media said the landslide affected operations at the Porgera gold mine, which is run by Barrick Gold through Barrick Niugini Ltd, a joint venture with China’s Zijin Mining. Barrick Gold did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside normal business hours.
Papua New Guinea is a diverse developing country of mainly subsistence farmers with 800 languages. There are few roads outside the larger cities.
With 10 million inhabitants, it is also the most populous country in the South Pacific, after Australia, which has a population of approximately 27 million.
The area lies just south of the equator and regularly experiences heavy rainfall, Agence France-Presse points out, adding that there have been heavy rainfall and flooding this year. In March, at least 23 people were killed by a landslide in a nearby province.
