Rescue workers at the site of the landslides in Ask, Norway, on 2 January.
Photographer: Tor Erik Schroeder / NTB / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Tor Erik Schroeder / NTB / AFP / Getty Images
Norwegian rescuers have recovered four bodies in a village not far from the nation’s capital affected by a landslide on Wednesday, with 6 people still missing.
The last three discoveries were made in the same area in a building about 100 meters from the site, Knut Hammer, head of the police operation, told reporters on Saturday afternoon. Rescuers continue to search for full-fledged survivors in difficult conditions.
The fast clay slide passed about 20 kilometers north of Oslo and follows a month of record rainfall. About 1,000 people were evacuated from the area after the landslide devastated large parts of the village.
These landslides are known to occur in Norway and neighboring Sweden when the rapid clay common to some parts of Scandinavia fills with rainwater and becomes liquid, according to the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. In June several houses were carried out to sea due to a similar slide. No one was injured in the incident.
(Updates with details about the search in the second paragraph)