Toll in Indonesia’s landslide reaches 79

Rescuers have recovered 79 bodies after a landslide in Banjarnegara district in Indonesia’s Central Java and are searching for at least 29 more people who remain missing, officials said here Wednesday.

Five people were still undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital for serious injuries and nine others for minor injuries, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency, told Xinhua over phone.

The actual number of missing people could exceed 29 as scores of vehicles and people were passing through a road at Jemblung village when the landslide occurred, another official of the agency said.

The number of displaced persons stood at 1,308 Wednesday, down from 1,886 Monday, said Sutopo.

The official urged the public to be on the alert for other possible landslides as more rain is expected in the next few weeks.

The landslide last Friday hit 150 houses, more than the 105 units as reported previously, another agency official said.

(IANS)