Rescue workers carried on the grim task of searching for bodies yesterday after pounding rains sent landslides crashing into several Indonesian villages, while the number of people listed as dead or missing fell to about 180.
Authorities revised the figure after dozens of survivors were found to be staying with family or friends.
Bulldozers and excavators shoved aside mountains of mud and shattered wooden houses in the village of Cijeruk in central Java and several hamlets in Jember, hundreds of kilometers to the east.
PHOTO: AP
Hundreds of soldiers, police and volunteers also sifted through the mud and rocks, some using their bare hands or hoes.
The number of bodies recovered at both disaster sites climbed to 160 yesterday, with at least 23 people missing and feared dead, said Bagio, a local government official, who goes by one name.
Earlier authorities said the toll could be as high as 240.
Sangidah, a 40-year-old widow, was still waiting for news about her 18-year-old son Agus Setiawan, who has been missing since dawn on Wednesday when tons of mud, rocks and logs crashed down a hill flanking the farming community of Cijeruk.
"I have not been able to sleep for three nights. I cannot eat since the fate of my son is still not clear," said Sangidah, who goes by only one name.
She said she was just finishing early morning Islamic prayers when the landslide struck.
"I ran out of the mosque as I heard the thundering sound, yelling Allah Akbar," Sangidah said.
"I was so scared as I saw the land and mud chasing me, trapping many people just a few meters behind me. I kept running," she said.
So far, 108 bodies have been pulled from the mud in Jember, government official Purwanto said.
In Cijeruk, 52 bodies have been recovered and 23 other people were feared dead, said Feriyanto, an official at the local Crisis Center. Both only use one name.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS