Up to 19 people were buried alive when heavy rains triggered a landslide in remote Papua New Guinea, a report said Tuesday.

Women and children were believed to be among those buried in the collapse, which hit Zongefifi village in Morobe province, on PNG's northwestern coast, in the early hours of Sunday morning, Australian Associated Press reported.

A youth from a nearby village walked for hours to alert authorities to the landslide, which reportedly buried the entire village, AAP said.

Heavy rains, floods and thick cloud prevented a disaster relief team from reaching the area and details remained sketchy, it said.

In March, at least seven people, including four children, were killed in a landslide after torrential rains fell in the country's Eastern Highlands.

That disaster followed the deaths last December of 10 people in a remote gold mine camp in Kora, also in the Eastern Highlands, when a mudslide ripped down a steep incline.