New | Scores dead, more missing after heavy rain triggers landslide in Indonesian village

Two landslides triggered by torrential rain killed at least 19 people and left 10 others missing on Indonesia’s main island of Java, a government official said on Tuesday.

Five houses were buried when mud rolled down from surrounding hills just after midnight in Mekarsari village of East Java’s Jombang district, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

He said rescuers pulled seven bodies from mounds of mud and were still searching for 10 others reportedly missing under tons of debris.

“[The] lack of equipment hampered our rescue efforts for those who are still missing and feared dead,” said Nugroho.

The landslide happened in mountainous Jombang at 1.30am (local time) after particularly heavy downpour, said local disaster agency official Putra Anugerah.

“Sixty people have also been displaced,” Anugerah said earlier that day.