Eight people have died, and more than 80 are missing after a landslide in Indonesia. The disaster was triggered by torrential rains on the country’s main island of Java, leaving rescuers struggling through deep mud, searching for survivors.
Rivers burst their banks, tearing through Pasir Langu village in West Bandung district of West Java province. Mud, rocks and trees tumbled down mountainside hamlets, burying some 34 houses. Teams were searching for the 82 residents feared buried under heaps of mud and debris, while 24 people managed to escape the disaster, said spokesperson Abdul Muhari of the National Disaster Management Agency.
Some eight bodies were pulled out in the worst-hit hamlet of Pasir Kuning after the 3am landslide swept away homes and people.
Television stations broadcast footage of workers and residents digging desperately in Pasir Langu, where roads and green-terraced rice fields were transformed into murky brown mud as the village was covered with thick mud, rocks and uprooted
Teten Ali Mungku Engkun, who heads the West Java’s Disaster Management Office said: “Unstable soil and heavy rain continue to complicate search and rescue operations.”
He said local authorities rapidly assessed the damage and deployed emergency response teams immediately after the landslide. Families living within 100 yards of the landslide zone were evacuated due to fears of further slope failures.
Authorities urged residents in landslide‑prone areas to remain vigilant and evacuate immediately if they hear rumbling sounds, see soil movement or believe conditions are unsafe.
In December, catastrophic floods and landslide struck Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island, killing at least 1,200 people and injuring more than 7,000, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
Seasonal rains and high tides from about October to April frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.
Last January, more than 20 people were killed after being swept away in floods and landslides after torrential rains in Central Java province.
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