Hundreds feared dead in Papua New Guinea landslide

Rescuers help villagers search for bodies at hillside settlement after early morning disaster

- 

Rescue crews arrived at the site of a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea's remote highlands on May 25, helping villagers search for hundreds of people feared dead under towering mounds of rubble and mud.

The disaster struck an isolated part of Enga province around 3am on May 24, according to government officials, wiping out swathes of the hillside settlement as villagers slept.

"At this time, we are still searching for bodies that are buried by the massive landslide," local leader Mark Ipuia said on May 25, adding he feared "more than 300" people were buried under the debris.

Both the United Nations and Red Cross have said the death toll could be substantially higher than 100, although they cautioned it could take days until a reliable estimate emerges.

"While verified casualty numbers are still pending, people living in the approximately 60 destroyed homes are unaccounted for," said a UN situation report seen by AFP on May 25.

So far, at least four bodies have been recovered, a UN official based in the capital Port Moresby told AFP.