SHARE
COPY LINK

LANDSLIDE

Norway rescue workers end search for landslide survivors

Norwegian rescue workers on Tuesday abandoned hope of finding survivors from a landslide that buried homes in a village six days ago, killing 10 people.

Norway rescue workers end search for landslide survivors
Photo: AFP

While three people remain unaccounted for, authorities said they are now presumed dead, bringing the official death toll from the landslide to 10, though only seven bodies have been recovered.

“We no longer have hope of finding people alive in the landslide,” Ida Melbo Øystese, police chief for Norway's eastern district, told a press briefing on Tuesday.

“Ten people have lost their lives, three are still missing,” she added.

“We have examined all the areas where it is possibly imaginable that someone has survived. We have done everything in our power,” Melbo Øystese stressed.

While no longer hoping to find survivors, the search continues for the bodies of those still missing.

Rescue workers have tackled snow and freezing temperatures in the search in and around the village of Ask about 25 kilometres northeast of Oslo.

The landslide hit in the early hours of December 30th, sweeping away nine buildings.

The seven recovered bodies, including those of a two-year-old girl, her father and her pregnant mother, were pulled out of the tangled mix of debris, earth and snow.

Rescue efforts had to be temporarily halted earlier on Tuesday when the earth began to shift again, although no one was hurt.

The landslide also left 10 people injured and more than 1,000 people from the municipality of Gjerdrum were evacuated, although some have since returned to their homes.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who went to Ask on Wednesday, said the landslide was “one of the largest” that Norway had ever experienced.

Local residents have left candles near the site of the tragedy.

The earth that shifted contains a specific clay called quick clay, present in Norway and Sweden, which can turn to fluid when overstressed.

 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

LANDSLIDE

Rescuers still hope for survivors after Norway landslide

Norwegian rescue workers said Monday they were still hoping to find survivors from a landslide that buried homes in a village five days ago, killing at least seven people.

Rescuers still hope for survivors after Norway landslide
Photo: AFP

Three people are still missing after the disaster struck the village of Ask about 25 kilometres northeast of Oslo in the early hours of December 30th.

“We are still in a rescue operation, which means we believe we can still find survivors,” search operation chief Roger Pettersen told reporters.

Nine buildings were swept away by the landslide and rescue workers have so far found the bodies of seven people, including a two-year-old girl and her father, in the tangled mix of debris, earth and snow.

“The cold is of course working against us,” the head of the medical team, Halvard Stave, said at a press briefing on Monday.

“As long as there are pockets of air in the land masses where the missing persons may have been, it is possible to survive,” Stave added.

Seventh body found in Norway mudslide, three still missing

The landslide also left 10 people injured and more than 1,000 people from the municipality of Gjerdrum have been evacuated.

After a break overnight to allow conditions for rescue dogs to improve, the search was resumed early Monday.

A visibly moved King Harald visited the site on Sunday,

“I'm having trouble finding something to say, because it's absolutely horrible,” he said after the visit. “This terrible event impacts us all. I sympathise with you who are beginning the new year with sadness and uncertainty.”

Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who went to Ask on Wednesday, said the landslide was “one of the largest” that Norway has ever experienced.

Local residents have left candles near the site of the tragedy.

The earth that shifted contains a specific clay called quick clay, present in Norway and Sweden, which can turn to fluid when overstressed.

The likelihood of a similar landslide in the region however remains low, according to the Norwegian Directorate of Water and Energy.

 

SHOW COMMENTS