PNG landslide buried more than 2,000 people, says govt

SYDNEY: Papua New Guinea's massive landslide three days ago buried more than 2,000 people, the govt said on Monday, as treacherous terrain impeded aid and lowered hopes of finding survivors. The National Disaster Centre gave the new number in a letter to the UN, which had put possible deaths at more than 670.

The variance reflects the remote site and the difficulty in getting an accurate population estimate. The Pacific island nation's last credible census was in 2000 and many live in isolated mountain villages.

Defence minister Billy Joseph said 4,000 people had been living in the six remote villages in the Maip-Mulitaka area in Enga province, where the landslide occurred in the early hours of Friday while most were asleep. More than 150 houses were buried beneath debris almost two storeys high. Rescuers heard screams from beneath the earth.

"I have 18 of my family members being buried under the debris and soil that I am standing on, and a lot more family members in the village I cannot count," resident Evit Kambu said. "But I cannot retrieve the bodies so I am standing here helplessly." More than 72 hours after the landslide, residents were still using spades, sticks and bare hands to try and shift debris. Only five bodies had been found, according to the provincial authority.

Villagers held one funeral on Monday: mourners walked behind the coffin weeping, according to UN official's video.

Heavy equipment and assistance have been slow to arrive due to the remote location while tribal warfare nearby has made aid workers travel in convoys escorted by soldiers and return to the provincial capital, 60 km away, at night.

Eight people were killed and 30 houses burnt down on Saturday in the violence, a UN agency official said. Aid convoys on Monday passed the still smoking remains of houses.

The first excavator only reached the disaster site late on Sunday, according to a UN official. Joseph said the defence operations chief was sent to the disaster scene within 24 hours with assistance from the Australian Defence Force, and a PNG defence engineering team was on site, as well as a military helicopter for evacuations. The govt has requested a New Zealand Defence Force geotechnical team to assess possibly unstable land nearby which would making heavy earth-moving equipment dangerous, he said.