Over 2000 people were buried alive in a landslide in Papua New Guinea village at the weekend, officials said. 

The disaster, which occurred in the country’s remote northern highlands, destroyed buildings and food gardens and also affected a major economic lifeline. 

Lusete Laso Mana, an official in the national disaster centre, disclosed this in a copy of a letter sent to the United Nations on Sunday. 

“The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction to buildings and food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country,” Mr Mana said in the copy. 

He revealed that rescue efforts continued to be a challenge, stressing that the main highway to the area had been blocked.

Mr Mana added that the ground remained unstable as water flowed beneath the rocks, shifting land and “posing ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors alike.”

The region, in Enga Province, is densely populated and located near the Porgera gold mine, which Barrick Gold, a Canadian company, operates in collaboration with Zijin Mining, a Chinese group. 

It is an area of remote and difficult jungle terrain in a country of around 12 million people just north of Australia. 

Tropical and divided along tribal, ethnic and linguistic lines, Papua New Guinea is rich in natural resources but largely underdeveloped, making it especially vulnerable to natural disasters, which strike frequently.

U.N. officials said they have been closely monitoring the situation.