(Port Moresby) The search for the bodies of hundreds of villagers believed to have been buried by a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea at the end of May has been stopped, the army announced on Wednesday, the area being “too dangerous” to search. carry out operations.
“All efforts to recover the bodies have been interrupted due to the danger,” Major Joe Aku told AFP, stressing the risk of further landslides.
“It is too dangerous to go there at this point. This is the worst and biggest landslide I have seen,” he added, dashing survivors’ hopes of finding the bodies of their loved ones who died in the disaster.
The perimeter of the disaster was sealed off until further notice for both civilians and authorities, and the area declared inaccessible by the military official who supervises the scene.
Twelve days after the tragedy which buried a locality in the province of Enga, in the center of the Pacific country, the human toll remains uncertain.
According to the government, some 2,000 people were buried, but based on satellite images, experts and local officials suggest a much lower death toll, in the order of a few hundred.
Only nine bodies have been found so far, according to local health authorities.
An internal memo from the government’s mines and geological hazards department, which AFP obtained on Tuesday, points to a “high probability of future landslides” at the site “in the immediate future”.
The document states that “all access to the area should be restricted to experts.”
Local authorities estimate that some 7,949 people lived in the village devastated by the disaster. Most of them have been evacuated and are now dependent on humanitarian aid, according to Major Aku.
Discussions are underway between the community and authorities about the possible creation of a memorial for the buried victims.