Unstable rubble and debris were complicating search and rescue efforts in rural Papua New Guinea on Saturday, a day after a massive landslide buried villages and killed at least three people.
Local officials said the death toll was likely to be at least in the hundreds.
Nearly 4,000 people live in the three villages engulfed by the landslide early Friday, said Sandis Tsaka, the provincial administrator for Enga, which includes the affected area.
He said the death toll was likely to be high because the landslide hit a densely populated area that is also a highly trafficked corridor.
“Our people will consider it of biblical proportions,” he said.
Persons:
Sandis Tsaka, ”, Tsaka
Locations:
Papua New Guinea