Indonesian authorities are continuing the search for survivors after a devastating mudslide almost wiped out an entire village on the main island, Java, and killed at least 15 people.
Residents evacuate their homes as rescue workers search for survivors at the site of a landslide triggered by heavy rain in Sukabumi, West Java province on 1 January. Photo: AFP
Thirty houses in Sirnaresmi village in West Java's Sukabumi district were buried when the landslide plunged down surrounding hills just before sunset on 31 December.
Sixty people who lost their homes were forced to move to a temporary shelter, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
Footage showed relatives wailing as they watched rescuers pull a mud-caked body from the debris.
It was placed in a blue bag and taken away for burial.
Authorities struggled to bring tractors and other heavy equipment over washed-out roads after torrential rains sent mud and rocks crashing onto the hilly hamlets.
Hundreds of police, soldiers and residents dug through the debris with their bare hands, shovels and hoes as heavy rain hindered their efforts.
Rescue workers search for survivors at the site of the landslide. Photo: AFP
"Lack of equipment, bad weather and a blackout hampered our rescue efforts for those who are still missing and feared dead," Mr Nugroho said.
Made Oka Astawa, head of the operations division at the National Search and Rescue Agency, said the six bodies were found under four metres of mud with the help of two excavators that managed to reach the devastated area.
Mr Astawa said rescuers also pulled out four injured people, including an infant who died in a hospital.
Twenty villagers are still believed to be missing.
The search effort was halted late on Tuesday, local time, due to darkness and heavy rains that made the landslide areas unstable, with the operation to be resumed early Wednesday, Mr Astawa said.
Seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have caused dozens of landslides and widespread flooding across much of Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains close to rivers.
The landslide occurred during New Year's Eve celebrations.
On December 22, the Anak Krakatau volcano in the Sunda Strait erupted and partially collapsed into the sea, causing a tsunami that killed at least 437 people on Java and Sumatra islands.
At least 16 people are still missing and more than 33,700 residents were displaced.
- BBC