According to the latest toll, there are over 670 victims of a landslide that razed six villages in Papua New Guinea, according to a United Nations official. “There are about 150 houses buried, and an estimated 670 people are dead,” Serhan Aktoprak said.

Emergency services have raced against time to search for survivors in the disaster area, although they are hampered by the rugged terrain and damage to main roads, while some areas are only accessible by air, meaning helicopters.

The landslide, most likely caused by the heavy rains that hit the area in recent weeks, destroyed livestock, crops and sources of clean water, but above all buried hundreds of houses in the Enga highlands, in the north of the island in the South Pacific -Western, on the night between Thursday and Friday and more than 24 hours after the tragedy, it is not yet known how many people were trapped under the rubble.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said the government was working with local officials to provide "relief, but also to recover bodies and rebuild infrastructure." President Joe Biden announced that the United States is ready to provide assistance, and called Papua New Guinea a "close partner and friend" of the United States.

(Unioneonline/ss)