Indonesia landslide death toll rises to 20 as search ends

JAKARTA – The Indonesian authorities say they have ended a search and rescue operation after a landslide in central Indonesia that left 20 people dead.

Heavy rainfall

triggered landslides that struck two villages

in the Tana Toraja regency, South Sulawesi province, on the evening of April 13.

Rescuers had been

searching for two last missing people,

whose bodies were located on April 14, a three-year-old toddler and her 43-year-old mother.

“The joint search and rescue team found (the victims) not far apart, because the victims were a mother and child,” local search and rescue agency head Mexianus Bekabel said in a statement on April 15.

With the discovery of the final two victims, the search and rescue operation was concluded, with rescuers “returned to their respective units”, Mr Bekabel added.

The authorities had previously said 19 people were dead and there were two missing, but put the final toll at 20.

Indonesia is prone to landslides during the rainy season and the problem has been aggravated in some places by deforestation, with prolonged torrential rain causing flooding in some areas of the archipelago nation.

In March,

flash floods and landslides on Sumatra island

killed at least 30 people, with scores still missing.

Flooding and a landslide swept away dozens of houses and destroyed a hotel

near Lake Toba in Sumatra in December 2023

, killing at least two people. AFP