At least seven people died in a landslide on the Indonesian island of Java on Thursday, AP reported. A hillside collapsed and fell on farmers working in their rice paddies in Central Java’s Brebes district on Thursday morning.
The Jakarta Post had on Thursday reported that five people had died and 18 were missing. However, Eko Andalas, the chief of the disaster mitigation agency in Brebes, said a body was found on Friday and one of the people injured in the disaster had died in a hospital, taking the toll up to 7.
However, heavy rains impeded the rescue operations on Friday, AP reported. Over 500 rescuers including police, volunteers and soldiers are involved in the operations.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the landslide in Brebes was purely a natural disaster and not a result of the hillside being part of a plantation forest.
“It was caused by land movement following continuing torrential rain in the past two weeks,” he said.
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