Fears rise of 2nd landslide, disease outbreak in Papua New Guinea

Locals digging at the site of a landslide at Mulitaka village in the region of Maip Mulitaka, in Papua New Guinea’s Enga. PIC/AFP

Authorities fear a second landslide and a disease outbreak are looming at the scene of Papua New Guinea's mass-casualty disaster because of water streams and bodies trapped beneath the tons of debris that swept over a village, a United Nations official said Tuesday.

A mass of boulders, earth and splintered trees devastated Yambali in the South Pacific nation's remote highlands when a limestone mountainside sheared away Friday. The blanket of debris has become more unstable with recent rain and streams trapped between the ground and rubble, said Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the International Organisation for Migration's mission in Papua New Guinea.

The UN agency has officials at the scene in Enga province helping shelter 1,600 displaced people. The agency estimates 670 villagers died, while Papua New Guinea's government has told the United Nations it thinks more than 2,000 people were buried. Five bodies had been retrieved from the rubble by Monday. "We are hearing that another landslide can happen and maybe 8,000 people need to be evacuated," Aktoprak said.

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