Rescue teams began arriving at the site of a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea's (PNG) remote highlands on Saturday, helping villagers search for people feared dead under the towering mounds of rubble and mud.

The disaster hit an isolated part of Enga province at around 3:00 a.m. on Friday, according to government officials, when many villagers were at home asleep.

At least four bodies have been recovered, a United Nations official based in Papua New Guinea told AFP on Saturday morning.

More than 300 people and 1,182 houses were buried by the landslide, PNG's daily newspaper Post Courier reported, citing comments from a member of the country's parliament, Aimos Akem.

(With input from agencies)