'The Entire Village Has Gone Down'

More than 100 feared dead in Papua New Guinea landslide
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 24, 2024 2:00 AM CDT
More Than 100 Feared Dead in Papua New Guinea Landslide
Stock photo.   (Getty Images / ognennaja)

More than 100 people are believed to have been killed Friday in a landslide in a remote part of Papua New Guinea, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported, per the AP. The landslide reportedly hit Kaokalam Village in Enga Province, about 370 miles northwest of the South Pacific island nation's capital of Port Moresby, at roughly 3am local time, 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.

Social media videos show locals pulling out buried bodies. "It has occurred when people were still asleep in the early hours and the entire village has gone down," the president of a local association for women in business told ABC. "From what I can presume, it's about 100-plus people who are buried beneath the ground." The Papua New Guinea government and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. Papua New Guinea is a diverse, developing nation of mostly subsistence farmers with 800 languages. There are few roads outside the larger cities. With 10 million people, it is also the most populous South Pacific nation after Australia, which is home to 27 million.

(More Papua New Guinea stories.)

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