Rescuers in Indonesia are looking for survivors after a landslide killed 19 in Java | News

Heavy rains in Pekalongan cause landslides, blocking the highway and burying houses.

Rescuers in Indonesia are still searching for survivors after a landslide in the central Java province killed at least 19 people.

Heavy rain in Pekalongan caused a landslide on Tuesday on the main road that connects the city to the tourist area, the Dieng plateau.

Images from local media showed an affected road with buried houses and rice fields covered in mud, debris and stones.

The rescuers were forced to walk 4 kilometers to reach the place because the road was impassable. An excavator was deployed to remove the mud while heavy rain and fog hampered rescue efforts.

“A joint search and rescue team was able to find and recover two bodies … on Wednesday morning. The number of deaths recorded as of this afternoon is 19 people,” said Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

“The two bodies found this morning were part of the list of people reported missing in the incident.”

The search and rescue organization Basarnas said on Wednesday that 13 people were injured.

Heavy equipment has been deployed to open the road for search teams and about 200 rescuers have been sent to help the rescue effort, said local official Mohammad Yulian Akbar.

“The focus is on searching for the victims,” ​​he said, adding that the local government has declared a state of emergency in the region for two weeks.

Pictures shared by the disaster agency showed rescuers carrying victims in body bags lined with bamboo under thick fog from the area.

The agency warned residents that rain is expected in the next few days and could cause landslides and floods.

Indonesia is prone to landslides during the rainy season, usually between November and April, but other disasters caused by bad weather have occurred outside of that period in recent years.

In December, 10 people died in floods that hit mountain villages on the country’s main island of Java.