Flash floods and a landslide struck Indonesia’s Sumatra island over the weekend, killing at least 16 people, the national disaster agency said.
The military and rescue officials have been deployed to the four affected areas in North Sumatra province. “In total, 16 people died and seven more people are missing,” the spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency or BNPB, Abdul Muhari, said in a statement Monday.
Karo district suffered from the most casualties with five people killed and five more still missing after floods hit a resort area on Saturday. The rest of the victims are spread in three other districts in the province: Deli Serdang, South Tapanuli, and Padang Lawas.
Homes, mosques, and public facilities were also damaged. Muhari said Deli Serdang and Karo have been repeatedly hit by flash floods and landslides. “This year alone, these two districts have been hit by disaster three times and twice respectively,” he said.
“The landslide area provides access to hot springs, so there’s a possibility that tourists were hit by it,” he told media on Tuesday. “We are still cleaning up the mud and debris from the landslide while anticipating the possibility of discovering more victims.”
In a village in Deli Serdang district, where four people have been found dead and two more were missing, piles of mud, logs and rocks were scattered around the village where a rescue operation was underway.
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