Papua New Guinea: Desperate rescue for hundreds in landslide

Earlier, an official for the UN’s migration agency in the country had described to the BBC the rescue difficulties.

Serhan Aktoprak from the International Organization for Migration said there were a number of challenges facing teams trying to recover bodies, including reluctance by some grieving relatives to let heavy machinery near their loved ones.

Instead, he said, “people are using digging sticks, spades, large agricultural forks to remove the bodies buried under the soil”.

Debris from the landslide, which includes large boulders, trees and displaced soil, is up to 10m (32ft) deep in some areas.

More than 150 houses have been buried, and about 1,250 people have been displaced.

Crews at the scene also say rescue efforts are being hindered by major damage to the sole road leading to the town. The landslide has damaged a length of about 200m (650ft), Ms McMahon said.

Initial reports had put the death toll in the low hundreds but this jumped on Sunday after a UN revision, taking into account updated population numbers.

Locals have noted how the village in recent years had attracted people from other areas who had been displaced by tribal violence in the region.

The Mount Mungalo landslide occurred in the highlands of Enga, in the north of the island nation.

with reporting from Tiffanie Turnbull in Sydney