Eleven Dead as Cyclone Maila Batters Papua New Guinea

(MENAFN) At least 11 people are dead after Tropical Cyclone Maila tore through the autonomous Bougainville region of Papua New Guinea (PNG), triggering a deadly landslide and widespread destruction across the Solomon Sea archipelago.

PNG media reported Monday that the toll emerged from Bougainville, an island territory located more than 950 kilometers northeast of the capital Port Moresby. Media confirmed that at least eight of the fatalities occurred when a landslide obliterated homes in Asiko Village in Central Bougainville. Two additional women lost their lives after being struck by falling trees, media reported, with roughly 12 others hospitalized with varying injuries.

Cyclone Maila had intensified to a ferocious Category 5 storm as it churned through the Solomon Sea, unleashing catastrophic flooding and destruction across eastern PNG and the Solomon Islands before being downgraded to a tropical low. The storm had originally been forecast to make landfall at the southeastern tip of New Guinea as a far weaker Category 2 or 3 system.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape said Sunday that the government had already begun mobilizing emergency relief, including food rations, clean water, medical supplies, and temporary shelters for displaced communities.

"We will make sure we reach every place, every island, and every community that has been affected," he said.

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