Hundreds feared buried after landslide hits Papua New Guinea

Hundreds are feared dead after a massive landslide levelled dozens of homes in a remote village in northern Papua New Guinea, according to local residents and media.

Hundreds are feared dead after a massive landslide levelled dozens of homes in a remote village in northern Papua New Guinea, according to local residents and media.

Men were digging through tonnes of soil by hand on Saturday looking for missing relatives after boulders and earth fell from a mountainside in Yambali, a village of nearly 4,000 people in Enga province, 600 kilometres northwest of the capital, Port Moresby.

Local media reported on Saturday that more than 300 people and over 1,100 houses were buried by the massive landslide.

An assessment team, on the other hand, reported "suggestions" that 100 people were dead and 60 houses buried by the mountainside that collapsed a few hours before dawn on Friday (May 24), said Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the International Organization for Migration's mission in the South Pacific island nation.