පැපුවා නිව් ගිනියාවේ මුදවාගැනීම් කටයුතු දිගටම

Searches underway after deadly landslide in PNG

A massive landslide is feared to have killed more than 100 people and buried over 3,000 others under rubble, after it struck remote villages in north Papua New Guinea's Enga province early Friday, local media said.

The landslide hit at around 03:00 local time in Enga's highlands, affecting at least five villages and causing significant damage to over 120 homes, according to a local villager and a China Media Group (CMG) crew reporting from the scene on Friday.

As the landslide continued sending down large chucks of rubble and other debris in one village, residents frantically dug through the wreckage in search of the buried victims while dazed women, children and the elderly mourned their losses at the disaster scene.

Locals said large machines are urgently needed to remove the fallen boulders and debris, and they believe that it might take weeks to pull the remains of all those perished from the rubble.

Prime Minister James Marape expressed condolences to the families of the killed villagers and has ordered search and rescue operations and reconstruction of infrastructure in the affected villages.

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