Indonesian rescuers recovered the bodies of at least 17 people who were swept away in flash floods or buried under tons of mud and rocks that hit hilly villages on the country’s main island of Java, officials said Tuesday. Eight people were missing.
Torrential rains on Monday caused rivers to burst their banks, tearing through nine villages in Pekalongan regency of Central Java province, as mud, rocks and trees tumbled down on mountainside hamlets, said Bergas Catursasi, who heads the local Disaster Management Agency.
He said rescue workers by Tuesday had pulled out at least 17 bodies in the worst-hit village of Petungkriyono, and rescuers are searching for eight villagers who are reportedly still missing. Eleven injured people managed to escape and were rushed to nearby hospitals, Catursari said.
Television reports on Tuesday showed police, soldiers and rescue workers used excavators, farm equipment and their bare hands to sift through the rubble looking for the dead and missing in devastated villages, while others carried victims on bamboo stretchers or body bags to ambulances or trucks.
“Bad weather, mudslides and rugged terrain hampered the rescue operation,” Catursari said, adding that people who were fishing in the river and those who were taking shelter from the rain were swept away by flash floods.
National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said flash floods swept away villagers and vehicles passing through devastated villages and triggered a landslide that buried two houses. The disaster also destroyed two main bridges connecting villages in Pekalongan district.
Seasonal rain from about October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.
Last month, a landslide, flash floods and strong winds hit the Sukabumi district of West Java province, killing 12 people. In November a landslide and flash floods triggered by heavy downpours hit Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, leaving 20 dead and two missing. A landslide in the region also hit a tourist bus that killed nine people.
