Reuters, Jakarta
Indonesian rescuers were searching for people trapped in a minibus buried in mud after flash floods and landslides hit several locations in North Sumatra Province, killing at least 27, an official said yesterday.
Torrential rain in the province since last week had caused flash floods and landslides in four districts, Indonesia’s disaster agency has said.
A landslide in a village in Deli Serdang on Wednesday killed seven and injured 20, North Sumatra police spokesman Hadi Wahyudi told reporters.
Wrecked vehicles yesterday lie amid debris following a landslide in Deli Serdang, Indonesia, a day earlier.
Photo: AP
Rescuers were looking for missing people, including those trapped in a minibus and other vehicles on a hilly interprovince road hit by a mudslide, Wahyudi said, adding that he could not give an estimate for the number of affected people.
In other places, rescue personnel have found 20 bodies during a search that started at the weekend. They were still searching for two missing people.
“Today, we are focusing our search to find missing people and clearing the roads affected by the landslides,” Hadi said, adding that excavators were deployed.
The landslides and flash floods damaged houses, mosques and rice fields.
Heavy rains also triggered floods in the provincial capital of Medan, forcing a delay in votes for a regional election in some polling stations.
Extreme weather is expected in Indonesia toward the end of the year, as the La Nina phenomenon increases rainfall across the tropical archipelago, the country’s weather agency has said.
