A massive landslide in Papua New Guinea is feared to have buried more than 2,000 people alive in a remote highland village, the African nation's government said on Monday.
The Papua New Guinea government has called for international help in rescue efforts after a hillside community in Enga province was nearly leveled by a chunk of Mount Mungalo that collapsed in the early hours of last Friday.
The deadly landslide swept away dozens of houses and the people sleeping in them.
“The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused extensive destruction to buildings, orchards and had a major impact on the country's economic livelihood,” Papua New Guinea's national disaster center said in a letter to the United Nations. United. AFP reported.
According to the letter, the main road leading to the large Porgera gold mine was “completely blocked.”
The landslide continued to “move slowly, posing an ongoing danger to both rescue teams and survivors,” the disaster center said.
The magnitude of the catastrophe requires “immediate and collaborative actions by all actors,” he added, including the army and national and provincial rescuers.
The center also called on the UN to inform Papua New Guinea's development partners “and other international friends” of the crisis.
Meanwhile, the UN is scheduled to hold an emergency online meeting with foreign governments early Tuesday.
They will try to coordinate a relief effort that has been complicated by the remoteness of the place, as well as the cutting of the road link and the continuous tribal fighting in the vicinity.
