Landslide in Indonesia Leaves 10 Dead, 80 Missing as Search Resumes
Indonesian emergency teams on Sunday restarted efforts to locate around 80 people still unaccounted for after a fatal landslide, following an overnight halt caused by severe weather conditions, officials said.
State media reported that the landslide, which struck a residential neighborhood in West Java on Saturday, has now claimed 10 lives, with authorities confirming three additional fatalities.
The landslide, triggered by intense rainfall, struck villages in West Bandung, West Java, early Saturday, engulfing homes and prompting dozens of residents to flee their properties.
Persistent rain forced rescue teams to suspend operations overnight, mission coordinator Ade Dian Permana said, with search efforts resuming on Sunday once conditions improved.
Authorities told Kompas TV that unstable ground and continued rainfall on Saturday prevented rescuers from using heavy equipment, slowing the response.
Heavy rain also led to flooding across several parts of West Java, including the capital, Jakarta, pushing residents in the worst-hit areas to move to higher ground or safer locations.
Local resident Dedi Kurniawan, 36, said the incident was the first landslide he had seen in Pasir Langu village, a hilly area roughly 100 kilometers southeast of Jakarta.
“We usually only experience minor flooding from the nearby river, but this time the landslide came down from the forest,” he told Reuters.
Severe conditions
Rescue teams, assisted by the military, police, and volunteers, have been conducting manual excavations. Drones and trained dogs are also being used to search the area for survivors, the national rescue agency said.
The mayor of West Bandung cautioned on Saturday that the terrain is highly challenging and the ground remains unstable.
During Indonesia’s rainy season, which typically lasts from October to March, floods and landslides frequently occur across the archipelago.
This disaster follows last year’s tropical storms and heavy monsoon rains that caused floods and landslides on Sumatra island, killing roughly 1,200 people and displacing over 240,000, according to official statistics.
Authorities, environmental experts, and activists have highlighted the impact of deforestation in worsening the floods and landslides that swept mud into villages.
In response, the government filed several lawsuits after the Sumatra floods, seeking more than $200 million in damages from six companies.
Earlier this month, torrential rains struck Siau island, resulting in a flash flood that claimed at least 16 lives.
