HELSINKI (AP) – Rescue teams looking for survivors four days after a landslide swept away houses in a Norwegian village found no signs of life Saturday amid ruined buildings and ruins.
Two bodies have been recovered, but investigators are still searching for eight more people who are believed to be missing. The landslide in the village of Ask is the worst in modern Norwegian history and has shocked the citizens of the Nordic nation.
Ground search crews patrolled with dogs as helicopters and drones with heat detection cameras flew over harsh winter conditions on the devastated slope of Ask, a town of 5,000 people 25 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of Oslo. .
Norwegian police have pledged not to narrow the search even though a rescue team from neighboring Sweden has already returned home.
Local police chief Ida Melbo Oeystese said it could still be possible to find survivors in the airbags inside the destroyed buildings.
“Medically, you can survive for several days if you have air,” he told reporters at a news conference.
A second body had been found on Saturday afternoon after one was discovered on Friday. So far, only one Dalmatian dog has been rescued alive from the ruins.
On Friday afternoon, Norwegian police released the names and years of birth of the ten people who were initially missing, including a 2-year-old boy. Officials have not yet identified the two recovered bodies.
The landslide from early Wednesday crossed a road through Ask, leaving a deep, crater-like ravine that cars could not pass. Photographs and video images show dramatic scenes of buildings hanging on the edge of the ravine, which grew to 700 meters long and 300 meters wide. At least nine buildings with more than 30 apartments were destroyed.
The rescue operation is hampered by the limited number of hours of daylight in the area at this time of year and fears of further erosion of the terrain. The terrain is fragile on site and is unlikely to withstand the weight of rescue equipment, including a heavy Norwegian army vehicle.
More than 1,000 people have been evacuated, and officials said up to 1,500 people could be relocated from the area for fear of further landslides.
The exact cause of the accident is still unknown, but the Gjerdrum area is known to have a lot of fast clay, a form of clay that can change from solid to liquid. Experts said the clay substance combined with excessive rainfall and the typical humid weather conditions typical of Norway may have contributed to the landslide.
Norwegian authorities in 2005 warned people not to build residential buildings in the area, but houses were finally built there later in the decade.
Spokeswoman Toril Hofshagen, of the Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy, said the landslide is unique in its destruction.
“Not since 1893 has there been a rapid landslide of clay of this size in Norway,” Hofshagen told Norwegian media on Saturday.