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The death toll from a landslide on Indonesia’s main island of Java rose to 22 with four people still missing on Thursday, officials said, as rescuers raced against time and bad weather to find survivors.
Intense rainfall on Monday in a mountainous area near Pekalongan city in Central Java province sparked the landslide, collapsing bridges and burying cars and houses.
“The victims who were found dead are now 22. Four people are still being searched for,” Budiono, head of the search and rescue agency from nearby city Semarang, told AFP. Like many Indonesians, he goes by one name.
The rescuers started to clean the thick mud and debris from the roads, Budiono said, but the search was paused on Thursday evening due to bad weather and the potential for further landslides.
“If it rains, we immediately stop because it can endanger the rescue team on the ground,” Budiono said, adding it would resume Friday.
Heavy equipment had earlier been deployed to the worst-hit Kasimpar village to search through the remains of the house of a local official as well as a cafe where more victims are thought to have been buried as they sought shelter from the rain. Punch
