Rains halt search for 30 missing in Indonesian landslide that killed 23

PALU, Indonesia — Incessant rains on Wednesday halted the search for 30 people believed trapped under a landslide that engulfed an unauthorized gold mine on Indonesia's Sulawesi Island over the weekend, killing at least 23 people.

More than 100 villagers were digging for grains of gold on Sunday in the remote and hilly village of Bone Bolango in Gorontalo Province when tons of mud plunged down the surrounding hills and buried their makeshift camps.

The search was suspended on Wednesday afternoon due to heavy rains, said Heriyanto, head of the provincial Search and Rescue Office. Rescuers have not yet been able to locate the missing people, he said.

The National Search and Rescue Agency said on Wednesday that 92 villagers managed to escape from the landslide. Several of them were pulled out by rescuers, including 18 with injuries. It said 23 bodies were recovered, including that of a 4-year-old boy, while 30 people were missing.

More than 1,000 personnel, including army troops, were deployed to increase the strength of the search efforts, said Edy Prakoso, the agency's operation director.

Helicopter on the way

He said the Indonesian Air Force would send a helicopter as it was the only way to speed up the rescue operation that has been hampered by heavy rains, unstable soil and rugged terrain.

Photos released by the agency showed an excavator removing tons of mud and rocks that blocked access to the site.

Nopri, a miner, told news channel MetroTV that he spent about eight hours buried under about a meter of debris before he got out. He and his companions survived by breathing air flowing in through gaps in the debris and had some water left to fend off thirst, but they had been forced to wait for rescue, he added.

"When we tried to get out, dirt fell back again," he said. "So we were resigned, we just waited for help."

Informal mining operations are common in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to thousands laboring in conditions that pose a high risk of serious injury or death.

Agencies Via Xinhua