5 May 2003

At least nine dead after landslide in PNG's Southern Highlands

5:46 am on 5 May 2003

The police in Papua New Guinea say a landslide at the weekend in the southern highlands has killed at least nine people and left many others injured.

Other reports say up to thirteen died and several dozen have been injured by the landslide which struck a road junction in Tokia.

Police and soldiers, already in the area for local elections, unearthed a house buried by the landslide where most of the dead had been sheltering from the weather.

Three children are said to be among those killed.

Emergency services in the PNG capital, Port Moresby, hope to send supplies and rescue equipment to the area today .