More bodies found in Java mudslide (Roundup)

Feb 24, 2010, 12:08 GMT

Eds: Updates with new death toll, details =

Jakarta (dpa) - Working in muddy conditions, rescue workers found two more bodies buried under tons of earth after a landslide in Indonesia's West Java province, officials said Wednesday.

A spokesman for the National Disasters Mitigation Agency in Jakarta, identified only as Yusman, said the two bodies unearthed on Wednesday afternoon brought to 17 the total recovered, leaving at least 26 others presumed buried under tons of mud since Tuesday.

Weather conditions and lack of heavy equipment were making the search difficult in the tea plantation region of Pasirjambu village of Ciwidey regency, local official Kosasih said.

'Muddy fields and rain became a serious obstacle for the rescue workers in finding more bodies from under tons of mud,' Kosasih said, adding that only two earthmovers were available.

Kosasih confirmed the new death toll, explaining that two of the 17 bodies were small children from one family. He said about 600 villagers had been evacuated to temporary shelters.

Most of the refugees were from unaffected nearby villages that were in landslide-prone areas, he said.

'We're sure that those buried people have died. There's a very slim chance of them still being alive after more than 24 hours buried under tons of earth,' he said. Communication remained difficult as there was no mobile phone coverage in the area.

There had been conflicting reports numbers of dead and missing.

Local media reports put the number of missing residents at up to 70, with over a dozen confirmed injured.

A torrent of mud, triggered by days of heavy rains, slammed into at least 35 homes, a factory, a sports centre and other public facilities on Tuesday, after week of torrential rain.

Bandung district police chief Imran Yunus said sniffer dogs had also been deployed to help locate the buried victims.

Yusman said the rescue operation was forced to halt due to heavy rains, but search resumed soon after rain stopped.

Landslides are frequent in Indonesia, where years of deforestation have left hillsides vulnerable to collapse. Tropical storms can quickly soak the bare soil, which is no longer held in place by vegetation.

Environmentalists have blamed such disasters on logging and a failure to reforest the stripped land.