Police spokesman Lars Kirkegaard said yesterday they are three adults and one child from the settlement of Nuugaatsiaq. Local broadcaster KNR said those missing are three members of a family and an elderly person.
"This is the worst thing that could have happened, the flood cost loss of human lives," Greenland Premier Kim Kielsen said in a statement.
Because June 21 is Greenland's national day, the red- and-white flag with two horizontal bands and a disk, known by its Inuit name Erfalasorput, was flying atop official buildings. But because of the tragedy, it was lowered to half-staff.
Some 40 people were evacuated from Nuugaatsiaq after a landslide into the sea on Saturday caused surging water to destroy 11 houses in Nuugaatsiaq on the Arctic island, which is an autonomous part of constituent country within Denmark. The landslide occurred on a mountain across the fjord from the settlement, authorities said.