CISARUA, Indonesia: The death toll from a landslide in Indonesia rose to 17 on Monday (Jan 26), a disaster official said, as rescue operations entered a third day.
The landslide, triggered by heavy rain, crashed into a village in Java’s West Bandung region early on Saturday morning, covering residential areas in debris and forcing dozens to evacuate their homes.
“The death toll from the landslide in West Bandung has reached 17 people,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement Monday.
Abdul did not provide updates on the number of people still missing, which stood at around 80 on Sunday.
Indonesian navy chief Muhammad Ali said on Monday that 23 navy officers were among those trapped.
The officers were involved in border patrol training at the time of the landslide, he said, adding that heavy equipment was unable to reach the disaster zone due to bad weather.
Rescuers said they were treading carefully, fearing another landslide due to the unstable ground and bad weather.
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