At least 14 dead in PNG quake

MELBOURNE - Up to 14 people were killed in landslides and by collapsed buildings during a powerful earthquake in the remote Papua New Guinea highlands, police and a hospital worker said on Tuesday, with unconfirmed reports of up to 30 people killed.

The 7.5 magnitude quake that rocked the region early on Monday also damaged mining and power infrastructure and led Exxon-Mobil Corp to shut its $19 billion liquefied natural gas plant, the country's biggest export earner.

Two building collapses and a landslide killed 12 people in Mendi, the provincial capital of the Southern Highlands, said Julie Sakol, a nurse at Mendi General Hospital, where their bodies were brought to the morgue.