More bodies found after Indonesia landslides, raising toll to 23 with 28 missing

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers recovered more bodies in the search for people buried under landslides in two areas of Indonesia’s main island of Java, raising the confirmed deaths to 23, officials said Thursday.

Workers dug through tons of mud and rubble with nearly two dozen excavators in the Cilacap district of Central Java province retrieved four bodies Wednesday after landslides triggered by torrential rains last week hit dozens of houses in three villages, said Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

The finds raised the death toll to 20 in that area. He said the search for three people still missing was continuing.

Local officials also said 296 houses would be moved from the landslide-prone area within the next six months, and each family waiting for a new house will receive 600,000 rupiah ($36) per month in compensation.

Rescuers also Wednesday retrieved a body from a landslide in another part of Central Java, raising the toll there to three.

More than 500 rescue personnel have been deployed to search for 25 people reportedly missing after a landslide struck part of Banjarnegara district Saturday, burying at least 54 houses and sending nearly 1,000 residents into government shelters, Muhari said.

Images released by the agency showed green-terraced rice fields transformed into murky mud and rescue workers digging with excavators in villages covered by thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees.

Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and floods in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or in fertile flood plains.