Nganjuk (Indonesia): Torrential rains triggered a landslide on Indonesia’s main island of Java which has killed at least 10 people. Rescuers were digging desperately with their bare hands and farm tools Monday to locate nine missing people, including four children, officials said. Dozens of soldiers, police and volunteers took part in the search in the village of Selopuro in this district of East Java, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Raditya Jati said.
The mud that rolled down from surrounding hills late Sunday struck at least eight houses. It injured 14 people and left 21 people buried under tons of mud. Two were rescued Sunday.
Rescuers Monday found bodies buried under as much as six metres (10 feet) of mud. Heavy equipment arrived later to help in the search of the nine missing.
Overnight rains caused rivers to burst their banks in other districts of the province Monday, sending nearly one metre (about three feet) of muddy water into some residential areas. It forced hundreds of people to flee from their submerged homes, Jati said.
Severe flooding has been reported in many provinces in the vast archipelago nation over the past few days.
Two landslides hit a village in Indonesia’s West Java province last month, killing 40 people. Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and floods each year in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.