JAKARTA: A massive search operation continued in Indonesia’s West Java on Tuesday with rescue workers racing to find dozens of missing people, including members of an elite marine force feared buried in a landslide that has already killed at least 47.
Days of heavy rain that inundated the province’s West Bandung regency triggered a predawn landslide on Saturday, which buried a marine training camp and some 30 houses in Pasirlangu village on the slopes of Mount Burangrang.
Rescuers have had to dig through tons of mud, debris and uprooted trees, as bad weather and unstable soil intermittently hampered search operations since the weekend.
As search operations entered their fourth day on Tuesday, Indonesian authorities mobilized heavier equipment to sift through thick mud and used drones to identify and expand search locations, said Ade Dian Permana, who heads the Search and Rescue Agency in Bandung.
“As of 5:20 p.m., the total number of bodies we have recovered since the first day until the fourth day now stands at 47,” Permana said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
