Hundreds feared dead as emergency services race to rescue villagers trapped after landslide in PNG

Emergency services are racing to reach villages hit by a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea's isolated Enga province, where hundreds of people are feared to be dead.

Humanitarian agency, Care Australia says a rapid response team made up of medics and military personnel has managed to reach the isolated landslide site as difficult terrain and damage to main roads have complicated their journey to the area.

The landslide buried hundreds of homes in the highlands of Enga, in the north of the island nation in the southwest Pacific yesterday morning.

Residents from surrounding areas have described how trees and debris from a collapsed mountainside have buried parts of the community, leaving it isolated.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that highway access to the area has been blocked, making helicopters the only way to reach the area.

Footage from the scene shows locals pulling bodies from beneath rubble and trees as they traverse the terrain, covered by giant boulders and uprooted trees.

It remains unclear how many people are trapped under the rubble.

BBC