Four bodies found, six missing after Indonesia landslide

JAKARTA: Rescuers in Indonesia recovered four bodies including those of two children after a landslide and flooding hit a village on Java island, while six others remain missing, an official said Wednesday.

Cibenda village in West Java Province became inundated just before midnight on Sunday evening after hours of torrential rain when many villagers were asleep.

Ten people were initially reported missing, and dozens of homes were damaged, forcing hundreds to evacuate.

“Until this morning, four bodies have been retrieved and six more are still being searched,” Meidi, head of the local disaster mitigation agency and who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.

Indonesia is prone to landslides during the rainy season and the problem has been aggravated in some places by deforestation, with prolonged torrential rain causing flooding in some areas of the archipelago nation.

Earlier this month, flash flooding and landslides on Sumatra island killed at least 30 people with scores still missing.

A landslide and flooding swept away dozens of houses and destroyed a hotel near Lake Toba on Sumatra in December, killing at least two people.