Rescuers searching for more than 70 people missing after a
landslide in Indonesia deployed bulldozers and excavators to clear roads strewn
with debris as the death toll from the disaster rose to 32 on Sunday (Dec 14).
Torrential downpours triggered the landslide hitting
Jemblung village in central Java late Friday, National Disaster Management
Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. "The rescue team has found 32
bodies... and is still searching for 76 people buried in the landslide,"
he said in a text message.
Hundreds of rescuers were digging through the mud with
shovels and their bare hands in a desperate hunt for any survivors. "I am
very worried," a sobbing Sutinem, whose 12 family members including her
children were buried in the landslide, told AFP.
The 45-year-old, who was not in the village when the
landslide hit, said that so far only the body of her mother had been found.
"I was shocked to see that my village was flattened to the ground... I
pray that the government will find them quickly," said Sutinem, who like
many Indonesians goes by only one name.
Military official Edi Rahmatullah told reporters: "We
are trying our best to look (for) those still buried. It's a big challenge
because we are still using manual tools and the affected area is very
muddy."
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