Papua New Guinea landslide buries more than 2,000 people

A devastating landslide took place in the early hours of Friday, May 24, in Papua New Guinea, leaving thousands of people missing.

Furthermore, the landslide occurred around 3 a.m. local time in the island’s Enga province, crushing the village of Yambali, which is home to some 4,000 people.

Some first estimates by the UN shortly after the event stated that roughly 100 people were buried in the landslide.

The UN later revised this to 670 missing people, while the country’s National Disaster Center further raised the number to 2,0000 on Sunday in a letter that was released by the UN the next day.

Rescuers’ work was hampered by a plethora of reasons, including that the Enga province has only one main road that had been covered in parts by the landslide’s debris, which reach 6-8 meters in height.

Additionally, tribal hostilities in the area make it necessary for rescue workers to travel in military protected convoys and return to the province’s capital at night, which is located some 60 kilometers away.

Conditions on the site of the incident itself are far from ideal too, due to wet weather conditions marking the ground unstable.

Finally, locals have been objecting to the usage of heavy machinery as it could further damage the bodies of their loved ones, and they have so far been digging with sticks, spades or their bare hands.

Australia has offered to airlift personnel and machinery on-site to provide support ongoing search and rescue operations.