HELSINKI (AP) – Rescuers in Norway on Thursday continued to search for 10 people, including children, who are missing a day after a major landslide struck a residential area near the capital.
Time was running out to find survivors in buildings destroyed in the midst of winter weather. Authorities said it was very dangerous to send land rescue patrols to the devastated area in the village of Ask, in the municipality of Gjerdrum, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of Oslo. Instead, the search was carried out with the help of helicopters, drones and heating cameras.
“We still hope to find people and save lives,” police spokesman Dag Andre Sylju told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
There were no reports of casualties, but about 10 people were injured, one seriously, in what Prime Minister Erna Solberg called “probably one of the biggest landslides we’ve ever had”.
Officials said at least nine buildings with about 30 apartments were destroyed in the landslide earlier on Wednesday.
More than 1,000 people were evacuated and officials said up to 1,500 people could be removed from the area amid fears of further landslides.
The landslide cut a road through Ask, where about 5,000 people live, leaving a deep crater-shaped ravine where cars could not pass. Photos and videos showed dramatic scenes of buildings on the edge of the ravine.
The area is known to have a large amount of so-called fast clay, a form of clay that can change from solid to liquid. Experts said the clay substance combined with excessive precipitation and wet weather conditions may have contributed to the landslide.
Norwegian media reported that authorities in 2005 warned construction companies not to build houses in the area, but the houses were built there in the late 1990s.