Landslide hits residential area in Norway, 10 hurt, 11 people missing
Ten people were injured, one of them critically, and 11 were classified as missing after a landslide in southern Norway swept away more than a dozen buildings in the early hours of Wednesday, police said.
The landslide struck a residential area in the municipality of Gjerdrum, about 30 km (19 miles) north of the capital Oslo. Police said more than 900 people had been evacuated from the area.
Rescue workers continued to search the area for children and adults who were feared to have been caught in mud and debris, police said.
“We are quite certain that there are people in the affected area, but we don’t know if all 11 are there or if the number is smaller,” police spokesman Roger Pettersen told a news conference.
“We’re still searching for survivors,” he said.
Photos of the site showed a large crater with destroyed buildings at the bottom of it. Other buildings hung on the edges of the crater, TV footage showed. Two more houses collapsed into the crater on Wednesday afternoon, broadcaster NRK reported.
Norway’s King Harald said the landslide had made a deep impression on him.
“My thoughts are with all those who are affected, injured, or have lost their homes and those who now live in fear and uncertainty of the full extent of the catastrophe,” the 83-year-old monarch said in a statement released by the royal palace.
Similar news
