23 soldiers died in Indonesia’s West Java landslide, official says
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Indonesian rescuers searching for victims at the site of a landslide on Jan 27, following heavy rain.
PHOTO: REUTERS
JAKARTA – Twenty-three soldiers trapped by a landslide in Indonesia’s West Java have been confirmed dead, a navy spokesman said on Jan 27.
The landslide hit Pasir Langu village in Bandung Barat region early on Jan 24 and was triggered by heavy rain that started a day earlier.
The village is located in a hilly area of the province about 100km south-east of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.
The 23 marines were caught in the landslide during training exercises for Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border patrols on Jan 24, said First Admiral Tunggul, the Navy spokesman.
“The incident occurred due to extreme weather conditions with heavy rainfall, which caused a landslide at the training site,” said Adm Tunggul, who goes by only one name.
Mr Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, said that as at the afternoon of Jan 27, the death toll from the landslide had risen to 20 from the previous 17, with 42 people still missing. It was not immediately clear if the soldiers were included in those declared dead by the agency.
At least 800 rescue, military and police personnel, along with nine excavators, have been deployed to find the missing people. Mr Muhari said 685 residents of the stricken village had been evacuated to local government buildings.
The landslide happened during the peak of the wet season on Java island. Floods hit several parts of Indonesia last week
The landslide occurred two months after cyclone-induced floods and landslides on the island of Sumatra killed 1,200 people, destroyed homes and displaced more than a million residents. REUTERS
