Indonesia Landslide Death Toll Rises to 25

The death toll from a landslide in Indonesia rose to 25 as rescuers found three more bodies on Friday. Devi RAHMAN / AFP
The death toll from a landslide in Indonesia rose to 25 as rescuers found three more bodies on Friday. Devi RAHMAN / AFP
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Indonesia Landslide Death Toll Rises to 25

The death toll from a landslide in Indonesia rose to 25 as rescuers found three more bodies on Friday. Devi RAHMAN / AFP
The death toll from a landslide in Indonesia rose to 25 as rescuers found three more bodies on Friday. Devi RAHMAN / AFP

The death toll from a landslide on Indonesia's main island of Java rose to 25 as rescuers found three more bodies on Friday, a search and rescue agency official said.

Intense rainfall on Monday in a mountainous area near Pekalongan city in Central Java province triggered the landslide, collapsing bridges and burying cars and houses.

"Overall, the victims who were found dead were 25 people, with a note that two people are still unidentified," Budiono, head of the search and rescue agency from nearby Semarang, told AFP.

If those two victims are among the list of missing people, there would be only one more person left to find, he said.

The two unidentified victims were found trapped under rocks and landslide materials, making it difficult for rescuers to recover their bodies, added Budiono, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Bad weather was hampering search efforts, with the operation suspended on Friday afternoon to ensure the safety of rescue teams as rain and fog descended on the area.

The rescue operation is set to resume on Saturday, Budiono said, with rescuers focusing their search around a cafe where the victims are thought to have been buried as they sought shelter from the rain.

At least 13 people were also injured in the landslide, according to the national search and rescue agency Basarnas.

Indonesia is prone to landslides during the rainy season, typically between November and April, but some disasters caused by adverse weather have taken place outside that season in recent years.

Climate change has also increased the intensity of storms, leading to heavier rains, flash floods and stronger gusts.

In May, at least 67 people died after heavy rains caused flash floods in West Sumatra, pushing a mixture of ash, sand, and pebbles from the eruption of Mount Marapi into residential areas.



Shooting Rings Out in Congo’s Goma After Rebels Claim City 

This video grab made from AFP TV footage in Goma on January 27, 2025, shows armed men walking in the streets of the city, some carrying their belongings. (AFPTV / AFP)
This video grab made from AFP TV footage in Goma on January 27, 2025, shows armed men walking in the streets of the city, some carrying their belongings. (AFPTV / AFP)
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Shooting Rings Out in Congo’s Goma After Rebels Claim City 

This video grab made from AFP TV footage in Goma on January 27, 2025, shows armed men walking in the streets of the city, some carrying their belongings. (AFPTV / AFP)
This video grab made from AFP TV footage in Goma on January 27, 2025, shows armed men walking in the streets of the city, some carrying their belongings. (AFPTV / AFP)

Gunfire rang out early on Monday across parts of Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, hours after Rwanda-backed rebels said they had seized the city despite the United Nations Security Council's calling for an end to the offensive.

The recent advance by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel alliance has forced thousands in Congo's mineral-rich east from their homes and triggered fears that a decades-old simmering conflict risks reigniting a broader regional war.

"There is confusion in the city; here near the airport, we see soldiers. I have not seen the M23 yet," one resident told Reuters. "There are also some cases of looting of stores."

Another resident of the city said there was heavy shooting in the center of Goma.

Residents said gunfire could also be heard near the airport and near the border with Rwanda.

It was not immediately possible to determine who was responsible for the shooting, but one resident said they were likely to be warning shots, not fighting.

The rebels had ordered government soldiers to surrender by 0300 on Monday (0100 GMT) and 100 Congolese soldiers had handed their weapons in to Uruguayan troops in the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO), Uruguay's military said.

MONUSCO staff and their families were evacuating across the border to Rwanda on Monday morning, where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up.

Kenya's President William Ruto, chairman of the East African Community bloc, will hold an emergency meeting for heads of state on the situation, said Korir Sing'Oei, principal secretary at Kenya's foreign ministry.

The eastern borderlands of Democratic Republic of Congo, a country roughly the size of Western Europe, remain a tinder-box of rebel zones and militia fiefdoms in the wake of two successive regional wars stemming from Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Well-trained and professionally armed, M23 - the latest in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements - says it exists to protect Congo's ethnic Tutsi population.

The UN Security Council held crisis talks on Sunday over the situation in conflict, which has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

UN experts say that Rwanda has deployed 3,000 - 4,000 troops and provided significant firepower, including missiles and snipers, to support the M23 in fighting in Congo.

The United States, France and Britain on Sunday condemned what they said was Rwanda's backing of the rebel advance.

Kigali dismissed statements that "did not provide any solutions" and blamed Kinshasa for triggering the recent escalation.

"The fighting close to the Rwandan border continues to present a serious threat to Rwanda's security and territorial integrity, and necessitates Rwanda's sustained defensive posture," Rwanda's foreign ministry said.