Volunteers lead desperate bid to reach Papua quake victims

Affected areas' remoteness makes it hard to gauge scale of disaster

Volunteer rescuers ran non-stop airlifts to remote areas of Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, seeking to reach victims still stranded two days after a massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake rattled a broad area of the country's north.

At least seven people were killed, but the scale of the disaster was only slowly coming into focus.

More than 389 houses collapsed in the town of Madang alone, according to United Nations assessors on the ground.

It is expected the damage toll would rise as ground staff reach other communities.