This handout photo by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on May 25, 2024 shows locals carrying a person on a stretcher from the site of a landslide at Yambali Village in the region of Maip Mulitaka, in Papua New Guinea’s Enga Province. Agence France-Presse
PORT MORESBY — More than 670 people are believed to have died after a massive landslide obliterated a village in Papua New Guinea, a UN official told AFP on Sunday.
“There are an estimated 150-plus houses now buried” said UN migration agency official Serhan Aktoprak, adding that “670-plus people are assumed dead”.
“The situation is terrible with the land still sliding. The water is running and this is creating a massive risk for everyone involved,” added Aktoprak, who is based in Port Moresby.
READ: Massive landslide hits Papua New Guinea, many feared dead
More than 1,000 people had been displaced from the once-bustling village, Aktoprak said, with food gardens and water supplies almost completely wiped out.
“People are using digging sticks, spades, large agricultural forks to remove the bodies buried under the soil.”