MORE than 2,000 people are believed to have been buried alive by Friday’s landslide in Papua New Guinea, a government official has told the United Nations, while formally asking for international help.

The government figure is roughly triple the UN estimate of 670 killed by the landslide in the mountainous interior. The remains of only five people had been recovered so far.

In a letter to the UN resident co-ordinator dated Sunday, National Disaster Centre acting director Luseta Laso Mana said the landslide had “buried more than 2,000 people alive” and caused “major destruction” in the village of Yambali in Enga province.

Casualty estimates have varied widely since the disaster occurred and it was not immediately clear how officials had arrived at the latest figure.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which is taking a leading role in the international response, has not changed its estimated death toll of 670 released on Sunday, pending new evidence.

“We are not able to dispute what the government suggests, but we are not able to comment on it,” said IOM mission head Serhan Aktoprak.

The death toll of 670 was based on calculations by Yambali village and Enga provincial officials that more than 150 homes had been buried by the landslide. The previous estimate had been 60 homes.

The office of Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape did not respond today to an enquiry about what the government estimate of 2,000 was based on.

Determining the scale of the disaster is difficult because of challenging conditions on the ground, including the village’s remote location, a lack of telecommunications and tribal warfare throughout the province, which means international relief workers and aid convoys require military escorts.

At least 26 tribal warriors and mercenaries were killed in a battle between two warring tribes in Enga in February, as well as an unconfirmed number of bystanders.

The national government’s lack of reliable census data also adds to the challenges of determining how many are potentially dead.

The landslide had also buried a 650-foot stretch of the province’s main highway under debris 20 to 26 feet deep, which poses a major obstacle to relief workers.

Ms Mana warned that the landslide would have a major economic impact on the entire country.