A massive landslide just north of Oslo, Norway, on Wednesday left 10 people dead or unaccounted for, officials said.
The landslide wiped out more than a dozen buildings in Ask, the administrative center of Gjerdrum municipality about 15 miles northeast of Oslo.
Authorities fear that some victims may be trapped in buildings that collapsed in the slide.
Officials said the landslide, which happened before dawn Wednesday, was roughly 2,300 feet long and dozens of feet wide.
“Those who worked here last night were overwhelmed when they saw the scene after daylight appeared,” local operations manager Roger Pettersen said.
At least six people from Ask were hospitalized and hundreds more from the village were evacuated. Efforts to rescue others were partly stymied by the ongoing danger of the landslide.
“It hurts to see how the forces of nature have ravaged Gjerdrum,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg tweeted. “My thoughts go to all those affected by the landslide. Now it is important that the emergency services get their job done.”
About 300 people who were evacuated from Ask took shelter at a hotel in nearby Skjetten, its manager said.
Ask is home to some 5,000 people.
Norway’s king Harald said in a statement that the accident had “made a deep impression on me and my family.
“My thoughts are with everyone affected, the injured, those who lost their homes and are now living in fear and uncertainty of the full extent of the disaster,” he said.
