KARO, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers in Indonesia have recovered 16 bodies buried under tons of mud and rocks or swept away by flash floods that hit mountain villages on the island of Sumatra, officials said Monday.
Six people are still missing, officials said.
Mud, rocks and trees fell from a mountain after heavy rains last weekend and rivers overflowed their banks and tore through four hilly districts in North Sumatra province, washing away homes and destroying farms.
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Police, soldiers and rescue workers used excavators, agricultural machinery and their bare hands to search through rubble for the dead and missing in Semangat Gunung, a resort town in Karo district, said Juspri M. Nadeak, head of the local disaster management office. .
Rescuers recovered six bodies after a landslide struck two houses and a cottage late on Sunday, he said. Nine injured people managed to escape, he said. Rescuers were still searching Monday for four missing people, including two children.
Rescuers recovered two bodies from a river on Sunday after flash floods swept away at least 10 houses and damaged about 150 houses and buildings in villages in South Tapanuli district, said Puput Mashuri, head of the local disaster management office.
Dozens of people were injured by the flash floods, which also destroyed more than 130 hectares of farmland and plantations.
Flash floods killed four people in Deli Serdang district on Sunday. Rescuers were searching Monday for two people who were swept away by flash floods and are still missing.
A landslide struck several houses in Harang Julu, a mountain village in Padang Lawas district, said Mustari, the head of the local search and rescue agency, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Rescuers late on Saturday retrieved the bodies of a family of four members, including two children, and rescued at least three injured people from the devastated village, he said.
Television reports left family members wailing as they watched rescuers pull mud-covered bodies from a room of a buried house in Harang Julu village.
Seasonal rain causes frequent floods and landslides from about October to March in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.
Last December, 12 people were swept away to Lake Toba or buried under tons of mud after heavy rains caused flash floods and landslides in mountain villages in North Sumatra province. Only one of them was found dead and eleven others are still missing.
The 1,145 square kilometer Lake Toba, formed from an ancient supervolcano, is a popular tourist destination on the island of Sumatra and an area that the government wants to develop as a magnet for international tourists.
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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
