Authorities warn that heavy rain is expected to continue for several days as they search for missing people.
At least 16 people have been killed and 10 injured as a landslide struck Indonesia’s Central Java province, government authorities said.
The landslide in the city of Pekalongan was triggered by heavy rains, a spokesperson for the country’s disaster mitigation agency said on Tuesday. Authorities are searching for another three missing people as they warned that the rain was expected to continue for several days.
Local news outlet Kompas TV showed houses heavily damaged and partially buried by the landslide. Several cars were also seen submerged in the mud.
Roads were damaged with rubble and rocks strewn across them. The spokesperson said two bridges had also been hit.
‘Time limited’
Doni Prakoso, police chief in Pekalongan, told local broadcaster Metro TV, that rescue workers were trying to find at least five people who were still missing.
Bergas Catursasi Penanggungan, a Central Java disaster agency official, said the search effort had been delayed due to difficulty accessing the area.
“Volunteers are in the process of going to the location,” he told broadcaster Kompas TV. “Time is limited due to the weather, we are racing against the weather.”
Penanggungan said local volunteers had joined the search alongside rescue workers, while heavy machinery would be called in to help dig for survivors “who are buried under thicker soil”.
Indonesia is prone to landslides during the rainy season, typically between November and April, but some disasters caused by adverse weather have taken place outside that season in recent years.
In December, 10 people were killed in flash floods that hit hilly villages on the country’s main island of Java. In the previous month, flash floods and landslides in North Sumatra province killed at least 29 people.