Jakarta - Landslides triggered by heavy downpours buried alive more than 60 people Wednesday in Indonesia's densely populated Central Java province, officials and local media reports said. The landslides buried dozens of homes in seven sub-districts of Central Java's Karanganyar regency. At least 61 people were buried alive in the disaster, said Joko Lumakso, spokesman of the local government administration.
Rescue operations by police, military officers and volunteers were hampered by slippery conditions and heavy rains, Lumakso said.
The Jakarta-based MetroTV private television reported that the death toll was likely to go higher. It said the landslides had cut off roads to the affected regions.
Tawangmangu sub-district, about 500 kilometres south-east of Jakarta, was the worst affected region, where at least 39 people were buried alive by landslides.
By mid-day, only two bodies had been recovered, leaving 37 others still under tons of soil, Elshinta private radio reported. It said rescue operations were proceeding slowly due to a lack of heavy equipment.
In the East Java district of Ngawi, rescue workers were searching for the bodies of four residents who were buried alive on Tuesday in a landslide, the state-run Antara News agency reported.
Days of torrential rains caused rivers in Java and other islands to burst their banks, inundating tens of thousands of homes up to their rooftops.
Environmentalists and government officials blamed deforestation as a factor behind the disasters.
