Landslide in Norway buries around ten buildings, 21 people reported missing

(Patria) - Ten people have been injured, one of them in critical condition, and 21 people are reported missing after a landslide in southern Norway buried around ten buildings in the early hours of Wednesday, police said.

The landslide occurred in a residential area in the town of Gjerdrum, about thirty kilometres north of the capital Oslo. Photos from the scene show a large crater with destroyed houses at its bottom. Other houses were hanging on the edge of the crater.

Helicopters flew over the region, occasionally lowering emergency services personnel into the rubble of destroyed houses, television footage showed.

"I was woken up by a helicopter flying over us, and after that the police started calling on residents to evacuate," said Kjetil Aamann, whose house is only 50 metres from the edge of the crater, for TV2.

The missing people were from the epicentre of the landslide, but it was not immediately clear whether they were buried under the rubble or managed to escape in time, police said.

"This was supposed to be a New Year's weekend when we would enjoy peace, and perhaps we should be more concerned about COVID-19, rather than whether there are missing people under the landslide," said Prime Minister Erna Solberg for TV2.

Solberg is expected to visit Gjerdrum during the day. The region is now unstable and can only be accessed by helicopter, said Roger Pettersen, head of police operations at the scene.

Masses of earth continue to shift after one of the largest clay landslides in recent Norwegian history, said Torild Hofshagen, regional head of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, at a press conference.

Southern Norway has seen heavy rainfall in recent days, which may have caused the movement of clay soil that is dominant in the region, NRK reports, citing Reuters.