A landslide has destroyed a remote village in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, raising fears among authorities that dozens of people may have been buried. Sarhan Akhtobrak, head of the International Organization for Migration mission in the South Pacific nation, stated that the assessment team has reported "information" suggesting that 100 people have died and 60 homes were buried under the landslide in the Ingga Province just hours before dawn on Friday.
More than 100 people are feared dead after a massive landslide hit a remote village in northern Papua New Guinea early on Friday. Akhtobrak acknowledged that if the number of buried homes reported by local authorities is accurate, the death toll could be much higher. By early Saturday, only three bodies had been recovered from a large area of land filled with rocks and scattered trees that affected Yambali, a village with a population of about 4,000, located 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of the capital, Port Moresby.
The Australian Defence Force is on standby as Papua New Guinea faces a large-scale humanitarian crisis. The landslide in the country's remote highlands has left hundreds unaccounted for, and the only road into the region is blocked.
