Search for 32 people missing in Indonesia landslide hampered by rain as death toll rises to 34
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Rescuers searching for victims at the site of a landslide after heavy rain in Pasir Langu village, in Indonesia's West Bandung regency, on Jan 27.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BANDUNG BARAT, Indonesia – Rain is hampering the search for 32 people still missing five days after a landslide hit Indonesia’s West Java province, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said on Jan 28, as it raised the death toll to 34.
The landslide struck Pasir Langu village in the West Bandung region early on Jan 24, triggered by heavy rains that started a day earlier.
Among those missing is the brother of Muhammad Rifal Firmansyah, 14. Rifal has spent the past four days at the landslide site, digging through mud and rocks and showing rescuers photographs of his father, mother and brother on his phone.
His father and mother were found dead on Jan 27 but his brother remains missing. Several other relatives have also not been found, his aunt said.
Rifal was 50km away in an Islamic boarding school when the landslide struck. He learned of the disaster from a cousin.
“I contacted everyone at home but no one responded. Then I knew, it hit my home. I cried,” he said.
“We had landslides before but small, it would just pass the front of the house. This time, it levelled everything. Everything’s gone.”
The village is in a hilly area of the province, about 100km south-east of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.
“It’s raining at the landslide site this morning but all the rescuers are ready to continue the search, waiting for the right timing,” disaster mitigation agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said.
The death toll rose to 34 from the previous count of 20. Another 23 people survived the disaster.
Twenty-three soldiers were killed while conducting border patrol training, the Indonesian Navy said on Jan 27.
It was not immediately clear whether the latest death toll included those soldiers, Dr Abdul said.
A team is now working at the scene to identify the bodies, he added.
At least 800 rescuers, military and police personnel, along with nine excavators, have been deployed to find the remaining missing people. REUTERS
