Rescue teams looking for survivors four days after a landslide swept away houses in a Norwegian village found no signs of life Saturday amid buildings and ruined remains. Three bodies have been recovered, but investigators are still searching for seven 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.
Search crews patrolled with dogs while helicopters and drones with heat detection cameras flew amid harsh winter conditions on the hillside of Ask, a village 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.
NTB / Erik Schroeder via REUTERS
By the end of Saturday, a second and third bodies had been found after discovering a first Friday. So far, only one Dalmatian dog has been rescued alive from the ruins.
King Harald V, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon are scheduled to visit the disaster area on Sunday to pay tribute to the victims and meet with residents and rescue workers. The 83-year-old monarch said in his New Year’s speech that the tragedy deeply moved the royal family.
Norwegian police have 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 three recovered bodies.
The landslide from early Wednesday crossed a road through Ask, leaving a deep, crater-like ravine. Photos and videos showed buildings hanging on the edge of the ravine, which grew to 700 meters (2,300 feet) long and 300 meters (1,000 feet) 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 Norway at this time of year and fears of further erosion. The terrain is fragile on site and cannot support 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 amid fears of further landslides.
The exact cause of the accident is not yet known, but the municipality of Gjerdrum, where Ask is located, is known to have a lot of fast clay, a material that can change from solid to liquid. Experts said the clay substance combined with excessive rainfall and the typical humid climate of Norway at this time of year 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, described the landslide as destroyed.
“Not since 1893 has there been a rapid landslide of clay of this size in Norway,” Hofshagen told the media on Saturday.