Race to rescue villagers trapped after landslide

Emergency services are racing to reach villages hit by a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea's isolated Enga province, where hundreds of people are feared to be dead.

A rapid response team made up of medics and military personnel has managed to reach the isolated landslide site, humanitarian agency Care Australia said.( @)

Difficult terrain and damage to main roads has complicated their journey to the area, it added in a statement.

"The land continues to slide and move, and that makes it dangerous for people to operate," UN official Serhan Aktoprak told AFP news agency.

The landslide buried hundreds of homes in the highlands of Enga, in the north of the island nation in the south-west Pacific, at around 03:00 local time on Friday (17:00 GMT on Thursday).

Residents from surrounding areas have described how trees and debris from a collapsed mountainside have buried parts of the community, leaving it isolated.( @)

Highway access to the area has been blocked, making helicopters the only way to reach the area, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.( @)

Footage from the scene shows locals pulling bodies from beneath rubble and trees as they traverse the terrain, covered by giant boulders and uprooted trees.

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