Almost 150 feared dead in Indonesian landslide
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-21 16:10

Some 146 people are believed to have died under hundreds of tonnes of garbage and earth on Indonesia's main island when heavy seasonal rain unleashed a massive landslide, police said.

The landslide struck in the early hours when people were asleep and flattened up to 70 homes built in the shadow of a dumpsite at Cimahi, near Bandung, around 200 kilometres (120 miles) southeast of Jakarta.

Television footage showed whole houses buried under tonnes of earth and rubbish, with splintered rafters and smashed roof tiles littering the area.

Scores of rescuers and search teams from the military, police and local residents were desperately scouring the site in the forlorn hope of rescuing some of those missing.

"We believe that there are 139 people still buried under the garbage... it appears that all of them are buried and it is very likely that they are all dead," Police Commissioner Susiyanti told AFP.

Seven bodies had already been recovered from the disaster scene.

"The situation is still grave but we will continue rescue efforts while the weather still allows us to do so," she said, adding that while the rain had stopped, dark clouds remained.

The recovery effort was being hindered because rescuers feared triggering further landslides by disrupting the unstable ground, she added.

Second Sergeant Sudrajat from the Batujajar subdistrict police post said that while seven bodies had been dragged from shattered homes at the edge of the landslide, only five people had been pulled out alive.

The dumpsite was located on top of a hill above the homes and heavy rain had saturated the mountains of trash, causing the tragedy, she explained.

A policeman in Cimahi named Awan told AFP that at least 70 houses were engulfed by the landslide.

Local village chief Saiful Bagir said local authorities had promised on six occasions to relocate the dumpsite, deemed to be a threat to the homes, but had not done so, Indosiar television reported.

Landslides are relatively common in Indonesia during the rainy season, especially on the most populated and mountainous island of Java.

Last year at least 42 people were killed in West Sumatra when a landslide buried a bus under tons of soil, trees and bushes.

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