SWEPT AWAY
Rescuers hunting for ‘2,000 victims’ buried beneath landslide in Papua New Guinea
Traumatized villagers are divided over whether heavy machinery should be allowed to dig up bodies
RESCUERS are hunting for a suspected 2,000 victims buried beneath a landslide in Papua New Guinea.
The government figure is roughly three times the UN estimate of 670 killed in the island’s mountainous interior.
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Only six bodies had been found by last night after Friday’s disaster at Yambali village in the South Pacific island’s Enga province.
Officials said assessing the scale of the catastrophe was difficult as tribal warfare meant relief workers required military escorts.
The landslide also buried a 650ft stretch of the province’s main highway under 20 to 26ft of debris.
Survivors — 4,000 have been displaced — are digging by hand to try to find the dead under rubble up to 32ft deep.
Officials said they are split on whether heavy machinery should be used.
Traumatized villagers are divided over whether heavy machinery should be allowed to dig up and potentially further damage the bodies of their buried relatives.
In a letter to the UN seeking help, the island’s National Disaster Center said: “The situation remains unstable due to the shifting ground, posing ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors.”
Heavy rain caused the landslip, which hit “like a bomb in a split second”.
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Earth-moving equipment used by Papua New Guinea’s military was being transported to the disaster scene 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the east coast city of Lae.
Insiders said the landslide would have a major economic impact on the entire country.