News Desk :
More than 100 people are believed to have been killed on Friday in a landslide that buried a village in a remote part of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The landslide reportedly hit Kaokalam village in Enga province, about 600km northwest of the South Pacific island nation’s capital of Port Moresby, at 15:00 GMT, Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) reported.
Residents say current estimates of the death toll are above 100, although authorities have not confirmed this figure. Villagers said the number of people killed could be much higher.
Videos on social media show locals pulling out bodies buried under rocks and trees. The Papua New Guinea government and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Elizabeth Laruma, who runs a women’s business association in Porgera, a town in the same province near the Porgera Gold Mine, said village houses were flattened when the side of a mountain gave way. “It has occurred when people were still asleep in the early hours, and the entire village has gone down,” Laruma told ABC. “From what I can presume, it’s about 100-plus people who are buried beneath the ground.”