TANA TORAJA, Indonesia (AP) — Torrential rains triggered landslides on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing a minimum of 14 individuals and leaving three others lacking, officers stated Sunday.
Mud fell from surrounding hills onto 4 homes simply earlier than midnight Saturday within the Tana Toraja district of South Sulawesi province, stated native police chief Gunardi Mundu. He stated a household gathering was being held in one of many affected homes.
Dozens of troopers, police and volunteers joined the search within the villages of Makale and South Makale, in a distant, hilly space, Mundu stated. Rescuers early Sunday managed to drag out two injured individuals, together with an 8-year-old woman, and rushed them to a close-by hospital.
Rescuers by Sunday afternoon had recovered a minimum of 11 our bodies in Makale village and three our bodies in South Makale, and had been nonetheless trying to find three others, together with a 3-year-old woman, stated Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Company spokesperson Abdul Muhari.
Downed communications strains, unhealthy climate and unstable soil had been hampering the rescue efforts, Muhari stated.
Tana Toraja has many widespread vacationer sights, together with a website with conventional homes and wood statues of our bodies buried within the caves, often known as tau-tau.
Seasonal downpours trigger frequent landslides and floods in Indonesia, a series of 17,000 islands the place thousands and thousands of individuals dwell in mountainous areas or in fertile flood plains.
