Indonesia landslide kills eight with more than 80 missing in horror disaster | World | News
8 people died and more than 80 people are missing in the landslide in Indonesia. The disaster was triggered by heavy rains on the country’s main island of Java, leaving rescue teams searching for survivors in deep mud.
Rivers overflowed the village of Pasir Langu in the West Bandung district of West Java province. Mud, rocks and trees tumbled down the mountainside hamlets, causing approximately 34 houses to collapse. Abdul Muhari, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said that teams searched for 82 residents who were trapped under piles of mud and rubble, and 24 people managed to escape the disaster.
About eight bodies were recovered from the worst-hit Pasir Kuning hamlet after a landslide swept away homes and people at 3am.
Television stations broadcast footage of workers and residents desperately digging in Pasir Langu; Here the roads and green terraced rice fields turned into dark brown mud as the village was covered and displaced by thick mud and rocks.
Teten Ali Mungku Engkun, head of the West Java Disaster Management Office, said: “Unstable soil and heavy rain continue to complicate search and rescue operations.”
He said local authorities quickly assessed the damage and activated emergency response teams immediately after the landslide. Families living within 100 meters of the landslide area were evacuated for fear of the slope increasing further.
Authorities urged residents of landslide-prone areas to exercise caution and evacuate immediately if they hear rumbling noises, see earth movement or believe conditions are unsafe.
At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 7,000 injured in floods and landslides on Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island, in December, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
In Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains, seasonal rains and high tides from about October to April frequently cause floods and landslides.
Last January, more than 20 people lost their lives in floods and landslides following heavy rains in Central Java province.
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