Destruction by landslides in Indonesia, 32 people dead, 22 missing

Jakarta: 32 people have been killed and 22 people are still missing due to a devastating landslide on the island of Natuna in Indonesia. Rescue workers recovered bodies buried under tons of mud after a landslide hit a mountain village on the remote Indonesian island of Natuna, raising the death toll to 32, officials said on Thursday.

The National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement that landslides triggered by heavy rains on Monday caused nearby hills to collapse, destroying 30 houses in the village of Jenting on the South China Sea coast. Done.

Abdul Rahman, head of Natuna’s search and rescue agency, said authorities have deployed about 700 rescue workers, including the police and army, with heavy equipment to search for the 22 missing people. These missing persons may be trapped in the houses that were destroyed by the landslides.

“As the weather improves, we will be able to retrieve more bodies,” Rahman said in a video statement. Head of the National Disaster Management Agency Saharyantu said that eight injured people were rescued alive, three of them in critical condition. They were rushed to a hospital in Pontianak, a town on Borneo island about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Genting, late Monday, but one person died at sea en route.

Search and rescue operations were hampered due to heavy rains around the disaster site. Saharianto said search efforts had to be halted several times due to bad weather, while communication lines and power outages also hampered operations.