Its principles Papua New Guinea warned of the increased risk of youth landslides in the area where a similar deadly disaster recently occurred, with government experts calling for the evacuation of residents.

The two affected communities in Enga province, where hundreds of people are believed to have died on May 24 when part of Mount Mungalo detached, should be evacuated urgently, an internal report by Papua New Guinea’s mines and geohazards agency says.

“A no-go zone should be declared,” the report stressed, citing factors that could trigger new landslides, such as falling loose pieces of rock and groundwater.

Noting that there is a “high probability of further landslides occurring in the near future”, the report concludes that “only experts should have access to the area”.

Rescue crews do not expect to find any survivors after the massive landslide. Twelve days after the disaster, residents are still digging through the deep mud and moving stones and rocks in the hope of locating their relatives.

Geologists and experts estimate that this activity risks triggering a new landslide and stress that residents cannot remain in the area.

Large machines that have recently reached the point “because of the movements or vibrations” they create can cause rocks to fall.

Local authorities estimate that 7,849 people lived in the two communities that were overwhelmed by the mud and rocks, and any decision to evacuate would have serious consequences.

Local customs place great importance on burying the dead and, according to Justine McMahon of the NGO CARE, any removal order from the area would be “particularly sensitive and complex”.

“Not only because of people’s ties to their land, but also because the arrival of new people affects the dynamics of a community,” he explained.

According to early estimates by the Papua New Guinean government, up to 2,000 people are believed to have been crushed by the landslide, although local officials put the number in the hundreds.

Only nine bodies have been found so far.