UP to 60 people are feared dead after a massive landslide wiped out an entire village in a scene of "utter devastation" in Papua New Guinea, reports and aid workersThe disaster struck near a huge ExxonMobil liquefied natural gas project in the country's rugged southern highlands Tuesday as people slept, leaving a trail of destruction.
- PNG media said 40 bodies had been recovered and another 20 people were still missing. The director of PNG's National Disaster Centre, Martin Mosi, said it appeared lives had been lost but he could not verify how many.
- Staff from his office were en route via helicopter and he said once they were on the ground, he would have a clearer picture.
The Pacific nation's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill(left photo) was also rushing to the scene, near Tari.Nanduka Yandi, an aid worker for US-based NGO Population Services International, was at the scene of the landslide soon after it happened and said many people were killed, with few escaping the carnage.
"It was really huge. It covered 42 houses and only three or four people managed to escape. Everyone else died," he told AFP by telephone.
- "It is quite remote and yesterday there was hardly anyone here to dig out the bodies or help people. People lost their entire families. They are in shock."
- He described the scene as "utter devastation."
- He recounted how one guest house owner was not in his home at the time and returned to find his wife, children and mother and father all missing.
- Yandi said it had been raining in the area at the time, although some locals quoted by the media claimed the landslide was caused by blasting at a nearby quarry.
- An aerial shot of the disaster showed mud and other debris extending for at least half a mile (one kilometer) across a forested area.
- A spokeswoman for ExxonMobil said all its personnel were accounted for and it was in close contact with the Natural Disaster Centre.
ExxonMobil's US$16.8 billion LNG project is due to begin production in 2014 and will see PNG's natural gas sold across Asia for the next 30 years.Local lawmaker Francis Potape told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he feared there could be further landslides as the area was still very unstable.
The ABC said the main road in the area had been cut in half, hindering rescue workers' attempts to reach the scene.
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