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– I want to emphasize that we are still in a rescue operation and that we are looking for survivors, says the police operations manager, Roy Alkvist, during today’s first press conference from Gjerdrum.
Police reported on the status of the rescue operation after the rapid clay landslide at a press conference at 9am on Saturday. No finds were made overnight.
They say their “starting point is that it is still possible to find people alive in the landslide area.”
Towards last night, the police decided to stop the search operation on the ground in the landslide zone due to the darkness. Drones and heat search cameras have been used to search for survivors. Several drones have been in the air over the dark residential area throughout the night.
– No new discoveries have been made tonight. We hope that the efforts that are made when daylight comes will give us more information and hopefully we will discover the people who are in the area of the landslide, Sveen tells VG early Saturday morning.
The edge of the landslide still falls
The Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy states that on Saturday, three days after the landslide started, there is still flaking in the Gjerdrum landslide.
– The development that we have seen now in recent days is as expected. We see gradual peeling, where the top falls due to gravity, says regional manager Toril Hofshagen at NVE on Saturday morning.
She says that it is an expected development and that it may contribute to some stabilization of the avalanche edge.
– What is a peel?
– Parts of the edge of the avalanche fall, explains Hofshagen.
– Since 1893 there has not been a rapid clay landslide of this size in Norway, he adds.
Hofshagen says there was further bombardment last night on the landslide. They will work on further investigations in the city center.
– There are some houses that are completely on the edge, it is likely that these also fall downhill as a result of these bombings. As landslide development is still in progress, we do not know how the final edge of the landslide will stop.
NVE conducts ongoing evaluations and makes recommendations to the police. At the moment, the state is that they monitor and take the professional recommendations regarding security that they consider necessary.
She also had the following message for people who now fear that their house is on living clay.
– It is not in itself a risk to live on living clay, as long as the ground is calm and stable. This is a very unique landslide, says Hofshagen.
You must continue the search today
All the emergency services, the defense, the volunteers and the municipality work intensely and hard. It is a complex case with several parallel careers, says Roy Alkvist during today’s press conference.
– How long are you going to last?
– I don’t want to go into that now. The stock itself is risky, but conditions are quite similar to yesterday.
Task leader Dag André Sylju from the police said late Friday that they planned to start the search as soon as possible on Saturday morning. They do an ongoing threat assessment that is on the bottom when it comes to how much crew and equipment they can leave behind.
The ground-level searches are conducted “in collaboration with rescue dogs,” says Fire Operations Director Geir Søndrål.
– We have crews that look for points that rescue dogs detect and mark. We went out with the help of styrofoam plates, Søndrål said on Friday.
SLIDES: Marked in color are residential houses that have so far collapsed. The yellow area shows where the rapid clay landslide occurred. Graphics: Einar Otto Stangvik
The autopsy is still in progress
On Friday it emerged that the rescue operation in Gjerdrum, picked up a deceased person from a building where the rapid clay landslide had occurred. The person has not yet been identified and an autopsy is now being performed.
Police task force leader Roy Alkvist says he has a strong understanding that families who miss someone after the Ask landslide find it frustrating that it takes time before the victim is identified.
– We are aware that it is a delicate and sad situation that we are discovered and that we do not receive notifications from relatives. That there are people sitting and wondering who it is. We understand that it is frustrating, says Alkvist.
On Friday, Operations Manager Terje Marstad in the eastern police district told VG that they did not dare to say when it was finished, but that they might have the answer on Saturday if they were lucky.
He added that it is the researchers who have direct contact with the hospital.
In addition to providing clarification to the relatives, Marstad said that the answer is important in terms of the investigation:
– This person is from a building. But does the person live in the building or not? If we get these answers, we can read how the masses have pushed things forward. In such a fast clay constellation, many things can be mixed together.
On Friday night, the police came out with a list of the missing. They write that “the deceased has not been identified, but is probably one of the people on the list.”
Swedish crisis team leaves Gjerdrum
The Swedish crisis team that has contributed during the rescue operation after in Gjerdrum, travels back to Sweden on Saturday, NTB reports on Saturday.
The Swedish USAR team (USAR is responsible for urban search and rescue, journal.anm.) Arrived at the landslide area in Gjerdrum on Friday. But on Saturday morning, Swedish Expressen writes that the team is traveling back to Sweden.
The Swedish team travels back after Norwegian task management on Friday afternoon said the Swedish effort is no longer necessary. The Swedish USAR team will be replaced by a team from Trondheim.
– Together with various rescue services in Sweden, we have been prepared to be able to send more reinforcements to Norway, and we still have a high level of preparedness to be able to support our Norwegian colleagues and those affected on short notice should the need arise again, says the project manager Erik Flink at The Swedish Civil Contingency Agency in a press release.
SEE BELOW: Post a helicopter video from the landslide area
- What are the latest news? You will get the latest news and what we know about the landslide in the VG news studio.
- Has anyone died? One person has been confirmed dead.
- How many are missing? The police still hope to find people alive. There are still nine people who have not been accounted for, according to the latest update. There are women, men and children, say the police. First 26 were missing, now there are nine left.
