Papua New Guinea confirm over 2,000 buried alive in landslide

Sydney: The Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Disaster Centre (NDC) has confirmed that more than 2,000 people were buried alive after a massive landslide disaster occurred in Enga province.

Serhan Aktoprak, the Chief of Mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in the Pacific island country, told Xinhua news agency that the UN migration agency received the statement on Monday.

According to the statement issued by the centre's acting director Lusete Laso Mana, the disaster also caused major destruction to buildings and food gardens, as well as led to a major impact on the economic lifeline of PNG, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The main highway to Porgera Mine is completely blocked. The situation remains unstable as the landslip continues to shift slowly, posing an ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors alike," said Mana.

The Acting Director also noted that a joint government team inspected the affected village on Sunday and presented a cheque of 500,000 kinas (about $128,796) to the Enga Provincial Government to provide immediate relief assistance.