More than 2,000 people are thought to have been buried alive by last Friday’s landslip, a Papua New Guinea government official informed the UN and the country has formally requested international assistance.

The UN estimated that 670 people were killed in the landslip in the rugged interior of the South Pacific island nation; the government estimate is almost three times higher. As of Monday, local authorities had only retrieved the remains of five persons. The reason behind revising the Sunday-reported total of six was not immediately apparent.

The interim head of the nation’s National Disaster Centre, Luseta Laso Mana, said in a letter to the UN resident coordinator dated Sunday that the landslip “buried more than 2,000 people alive” and caused “major destruction” in Yambali village in Enga province.

According to Agence France-Presse, the letter stated that the landslip “caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country.”

Since the tragedy, estimates of the death toll have fluctuated greatly, and it was not immediately evident how authorities arrived at the precise number of casualties.

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Without new information, the International Organisation for Migration, collaborating closely with the government and spearheading the global response, has not modified the 670 estimated deaths reported on Sunday.

“We are not able to dispute what the government, suggests but we are not able to comment on it,” said Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the UN migrant agency’s mission in Papua New Guinea.

“As time goes in such a massive undertaking, the number will remain fluid,” Aktoprak added.

Officials from Yambali village and the Enga province calculated that over 150 dwellings had been submerged by the landslip, which led to the 670 death toll. Sixty dwellings had been the projection from before.

James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, has yet to answer a request for clarification on the basis of the government estimate of 2,000 on Monday. When details regarding the extent of the damage and the number of casualties become available, Marape has pledged to make them public.

Due to tough conditions on the ground, such as the village’s remote position, a lack of telecommunications, and tribal fighting throughout the province, it is impossible to determine the true extent of the tragedy. As a result, military escorts are required for foreign rescue workers and assistance convoys.

In a conflict between two warring tribes in Enga in February, at least 26 tribal warriors and mercenaries were slain, along with an unknown number of onlookers.

The difficulties in ascertaining the possible death toll are further compounded by the national government’s absence of trustworthy census data.

The population of Papua New Guinea is estimated by the government to be approximately 10 million, while research conducted by the United Nations in 2022, using data from satellite images of rooftops, suggested that the number might reach up to 17 million. The country has not conducted a precise census in many years.

Additionally, a 200-meter (650-foot) section of the province’s main highway was submerged in debris that was 6 to 8 metres (20 to 26 feet) thick, posing a significant challenge for relief workers.

Mana predicted that the landslide would significantly affect the nation’s economy.

The first large piece of heavy equipment to assist the locals in searching for bodies with shovels and farming implements is an excavator, which a local builder provided on Sunday. It’s dangerous to work around the still-shifting rubble.

Mana wrote to the UN that “the situation remains unstable” because of the shifting earth, “posing ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors alike.”

Billy Joseph, the minister of defence for Mana and Papua New Guinea, travelled 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwest to Yambali on Sunday in an Australian military chopper to obtain a firsthand understanding of what is required.

Mana’s office posted a picture of Mana at Yambali giving a local official a cheque for 500,000 kina ($130,000) to purchase supplies for 4,000 displaced survivors.

The visit’s main goal was to determine if the government of Papua New Guinea needed to formally request further foreign support.

The military of Papua New Guinea was transporting earthmoving equipment to the disaster site, which was 250 kilometres away from Lae on the east coast.

According to officials, traumatised locals are divided on whether or not to allow heavy machinery to dig up and maybe further injure the bodies of their buried relatives.

Since the landslide on Friday, according to Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, his staff have communicated with their counterparts in Papua New Guinea. 

“The exact nature of the support that we do provide will play out over the coming days,” Marles told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“We’ve obviously (have) airlift capacity to get people there. There may be other equipment that we can bring to bear in terms of the search and rescue (and other matters) … that we are talking through with PNG right now,” Marles added.

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