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Up to 60 Feared Dead in PNG: Reports
January 25, 2012

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Sydney. As many as 60 people are feared dead after a massive landslide in remote Papua New Guinea, reports said on Wednesday, as the Pacific nation’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill rushed to the scene.

The disaster struck near a huge ExxonMobil liquefied natural gas project in the country’s rugged southern highlands on Tuesday, leaving a trail of destruction.

PNG media said 40 bodies had been recovered and another 20 people were still missing.

The director of PNG’s National Disaster Centre, Martin Mosi, said it appeared lives had been lost but he could not verify how many.

“The numbers are fluctuating and they need to be verified, but yes, there could very well be casualties,” he told AFP.

Staff from his office were en-route via helicopter and he said once they were on the ground, he would have a clearer picture.

“It was a big landslide and it covered a big area where there used to be small hamlets, so we are expecting a number of deaths,” Mosi added.

O’Neill was also heading to the scene, a prime ministerial official told AFP.

“He has just left and will have a look at the landslide area and see what assistance is needed,” an official in his office said Wednesday morning.

An aerial shot of the disaster showed mud and other debris extending for about one kilometer across a forested area.

A spokeswoman for ExxonMobil said all its personnel were accounted for and it was in close contact with the Natural Disaster Centre.

“We have closed down work in the surrounding area,” she said.

ExxonMobil’s Aus$16 billion ($16.8 billion) LNG project is due to begin production in 2014 and will see PNG’s natural gas sold across Asia for the next 30 years.

Local MP Francis Potape told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he feared there could be further landslides as the area was still very unstable.

“We could still see rocks still coming down in front of our eyes and we could also see water trapped in the mountainside rushing out,” he said.

Separately, he told the Port Moresby-based National newspaper that the landslide completely covered two villages while people slept.

“There are people buried underneath and a number of them are, from what I have heard, children,” he said.

ABC said the main road in the area had been cut in half, hindering rescue workers’ attempts to reach the scene.

Agence France-Presse