James Marape says the estimated death toll is more than 2,000 people, as rescue efforts in Enga province continue

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape has blamed “extraordinary rainfall” and changes to weather patterns for multiple disasters in the Pacific Island nation this year, including a landslide last week which may have killed thousands.

Parts of a mountain in the Maip-Mulitaka area in Enga province in PNG’s north collapsed in the early hours of last Friday and Marape said more than 2,000 people are estimated to have died, with up to 70,000 people living in the area affected by the disaster.

Unstable terrain, remote locations and damaged roads have been hampering relief efforts in the aftermath of the landslide, the UN said

The Papua New Guinea national disaster centre has said that Friday’s landslide in a remote village in the northern part of the country buried more than 2,000 people, and has formally asked for international help.

Unstable terrain, remote locations and damaged roads have been hampering relief efforts in the aftermath of the landslide, the United Nations said on Monday.

Emergency workers give up hope of finding survivors of Friday’s landslide as tribal warfare threatens rescue effort

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

The death toll from the landslide on Friday had 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.

Emergency response teams sent in to village in remote Enga province, but blocked road is hampering efforts

More than 300 people have been killed in a landslide in a remote region in northern Papua New Guinea, a local politician has said.

Amos Akem, an MP for Enga province, said the landslide struck Yambali village, about two hours’ drive from the provincial capital, Wabag, in the early hours of Friday. The road to Yambali from the capital is blocked, hampering relief efforts.