Rescuers discovered additional corpses on Thursday, bringing the total number of fatalities from a landslide on a remote Indonesian island to 30, an official said.
On Serasan Island, which is part of the Natuna area between Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia, a landslide occurred on Monday.
“As of 11:50 am (0450 GMT) today, nine bodies have been found,” local government spokesperson Patli Muhamad told AFP.
At Pangkalan village, the bodies were discovered buried beneath the rubble and landslide detritus, according to Muhamad, who also stated that 24 people are still missing.
The bad weather that had earlier complicated search and rescue efforts, according to Muhamad, had improved, and communication lines were also gradually being repaired.
In some areas, deforestation makes Indonesia more prone to landslides during the wet season. Prolonged torrential rain has also caused flooding in various parts of the archipelago nation.
According to experts, climate change is most likely causing an increase in the nation’s weather-related catastrophes.
According to Suharyanto, the director of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the Natuna district government has agreed to relocate dozens of families out of the disaster zone in order to reduce the risk of future disasters.
In the meantime, over 17,000 homes in Banjar district, in the Indonesian portion of Borneo, have been submerged by floods that have interrupted life for a month.
Floods and heavy rainfall have also affected neighboring Malaysia. Last week, nearly 41,000 people were relocated across several states in the nation.
