Landslide and flash flood hit Indonesia’s Sumatra island; 16 people died and 6 people are missing

TILE Rescuers in Indonesia pulled out 16 bodies buried under tons of mud and rocks or swept away by floods that hit mountainous villages on Sumatra Island, officials said Monday.

Authorities said six people were still missing.

Mud, rocks and trees tumbled down mountains and rivers burst their banks after heavy rains over the weekend, tearing apart four rugged regions in North Sumatra province, washing away homes and destroying farms.

Juspri M. Nadeak, who heads the local disaster management agency, said police, soldiers and rescue workers used excavators, farming equipment and their bare hands to sift through debris to search for the dead and missing in Semangat Gunung, a resort area in Karo district. .

Rescuers recovered six bodies after a landslide hit two houses and a shack late Sunday, the official said. He said nine injured people managed to escape. Rescuers were still searching for four missing people, including two children, on Monday.

Puput Mashuri, who heads the local disaster management agency, said rescue teams on Sunday pulled two bodies from the river after floods swept away at least 10 houses and damaged about 150 houses and buildings in villages in the South Tapanuli district.

Dozens of people were injured in the flash flood, which also destroyed more than 130 hectares (321 acres) of farmland and fields.

Four people died in Deli Serdang district in Sunday’s floods, and rescue teams were searching for two people who were still missing after being swept away by flash floods on Monday.

Local search and rescue agency chief Mustari, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said a landslide hit many homes in Harang Julu, a mountainous village in the Padang Lawas district.

Late on Saturday, rescue teams recovered the bodies of a family of four, including two children, and rescued at least three injured people from the devastated village, he said.

Television reports showed relatives wailing as they watched rescuers pull mud-soaked bodies from the room of a buried house in Harang Julu village.

In Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains, seasonal rains from about October to March frequently cause floods and landslides.

Last December 12 people dragged into Lake Toba or buried under tons of mud after heavy rains triggered flash floods and landslides in mountainous villages in North Sumatra province. Only one of them was found dead, and 11 people were not heard from.

Formed by a former supervolcano, the 1,145-square-kilometer (440-square-mile) Lake Toba is a popular travel destination on the island of Sumatra and an area the government aims to develop as a magnet for international tourists.

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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.