THOUSANDS FEARED DEAD AFTER MASSIVE LANDSLIDE IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

More than 2,000 people are believed to have died after a massive landslide hit a village in Papua New Guinea. The incident took place during the early hours of Friday morning in the country’s Enga province.

The village that has been struck is in a mountainous area.

A government agency has said the landslide struck like “an exploding bomb” catching the villagers off guard.

Over the weekend, the United Nations suggested that the figure might be significantly lower at 670. Since then, the number has been increased more than three times by the country’s acting director of the National Disaster Centre.

A schoolteacher from a neighbouring village told AFP that the number of deaths is difficult to establish.

“Nobody escaped. We don’t know who died because records are buried.”

The National Disaster Centre released a statement saying the damage was “extensive” and that it had “caused a major impact on the economic lifeline of the country”.

Image credit: Washington Post