More than 670 people are estimated to have died in Papua New Guinea’s massive landslide, the UN migration agency reported on Sunday as rescue operations continued.
Media in the South Pacific nation north of Australia had previously reported that Friday’s landslide had buried over 300 people. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) mentioned earlier on Sunday that only five bodies had been recovered from the debris.
The agency based its death toll estimates on information from officials in Yambali Village in Enga province, who reported that over 150 houses were buried in Friday’s landslide, according to Serhan Aktoprak, the head of the agency’s mission in Papua New Guinea, in an email statement.
More than six villages in the province’s Mulitaka region, about 600 km (370 miles) from the capital Port Moresby, have been affected by the landslide, said Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“Land is still sliding, rocks are falling, ground soil is cracking due to constant increased pressure and ground water is running thus area is posing an extreme risk for everyone,” Aktoprak said.
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