At least nine people have been injured after an overnight landslide smashed into a residential area near the Norwegian capital of Oslo.
Police were alerted on Wednesday morning to the slip in the village of Ask, in the municipality of Gjerdrum, where several homes had been destroyed.
Around 200 people have been evacuated from the area amid fears of further landslides. Some 40 ambulances were also sent to the scene.
Police spokesman Roger Pettersen told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that there were no initial reports of missing persons, but officials could not rule out that some residents may have been in the collapsed buildings.
“Several homes have been taken by the landslide,” Norway’s police stated on Twitter.
“Emergency services, with assistance from the civil defence, are in the process of evacuating [and] work is still being done to get an overview of the area.”
The roads around Gjerdrum have also been closed as the emergency operation continues, and Norway’s Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness teams say they are monitoring the situation closely.
“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.”
The area around the village of Ask is located is known for so-called quick clay, and landslides have previously been reported in the region.