OSLO • Rescue workers have uncovered a fifth body four days after a landslide buried homes near Norway's capital, police said yesterday, as the search goes on for five people still missing.
The tragedy occurred in the early hours of last Wednesday, destroying and shifting houses hundreds of metres under a torrent of mud in the village of Ask, located 25km north-east of Oslo.
"We are working hard in the depression created by the landslide," Mr Goran Syversen, head of the rescue operation, told a news conference yesterday.
"We have five teams working at the same time. They are doing very difficult work which is not without risk. Nevertheless, we are making good progress."
Police said earlier that a fifth body had been found just before 6am yesterday. That follows three discovered last Friday and one on Saturday at the site.
On Saturday, police identified the body of the first person found last Friday as 31-year-old Eirik Gronolen. The identities of the four other victims have not been released.
But police have published the names of all eight adults, as well as a two-year-old and a 13-year-old, who went missing last Wednesday.
Ten people were also injured in the landslide, including one seriously, who was transferred to Oslo for treatment.
About 1,000 residents - out of a local population of 5,000 - have been evacuated because of fears over the safety of their homes as the ground beneath continues to move.
"We are at a hotel," one of the evacuees, Mr Olav Gjerdingen, told Agence France-Presse. "It is a completely surreal and terrible situation."
Search-and-rescue teams have been using sniffer dogs, helicopters and drones to look for survivors.
"We are searching where we believe we might still find survivors," said Mr Kenneth Wangen, the head of the team of firefighters, adding that the search zone had been expanded.
The teams, who are also seeking to rescue family pets, were digging channels in the ground to evacuate casualties. The authorities have banned all aircraft from the disaster area until 3pm today as they conduct aerial searches.
Yesterday, rescuers received a visit from King Harald, his wife Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon, who lit candles for the victims in the church of Gjerdrum.
"This terrible event impacts us all. I sympathise with you who are beginning the new year with sadness and uncertainty," the King said in televised statement.
The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate said the disaster was a "quick-clay slide" of approximately 300m by 800m. Quick clay is a type of clay found in Norway and Sweden that can collapse and turn into fluid when overstressed.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg described it as one of the biggest landslides the country had ever experienced.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
