Papua New Guinea landslide: death toll now thought to be over 670

More than 670 people are believed to have been killed in a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea, a UN agency said yesterday, as emergency workers and relatives gave up hope that any survivors would be found.

- Jon Henley

The death toll from the landslide on Friday had previously been estimated at more than 300, but 48 hours later the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it may be more than double that, with the full extent of destruction still unclear.

Only five bodies had been retrieved from the rubble so far, the agency said, while aid and rescue efforts in the mission in the South Pacific island nation, about 1,400 miles north of Australia, were being hindered by dangerous conditions on the ground.

The chief of the IOM's mission to Papua New Guinea (PNG), Serhan Aktoprak, said the toll was based on calculations by local and provincial officials that more than 150 homes had been buried by the landslide rather than the previously estimated 60. Aktoprak said: "Land is still sliding, rocks are falling, ground soil is cracking due to constant increased pressure and ground water is running, thus the area is posing an extreme risk for everyone."

More than 250 houses near the stricken area, Yambali village in Enga province, had been abandoned and about 1,250 people have been displaced, the agency said, with many taking temporary shelter with relatives and friends.