Indonesia Flood Death Toll Rises to 50 with 27 Missing

AFP/APP

Indonesia: Rescuers recovered more bodies on Tuesday after flash floods and cold lava flow on Indonesia’s Sumatra island over the weekend killed at least 50 people and left another 27 missing, the country’s disaster agency said.

Hours of heavy rain caused large volcanic rocks to roll down one of Indonesia’s most active volcanos into two of the worst-hit districts on Sumatra island Saturday evening while flooding inundated roads, homes and mosques.

“Based on reports, Suharyanto (BNPB chief) said victims who died due to the disaster was recorded to be 50 people,” agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement, raising the death toll by six.

He said 27 people were still missing and 37 had been injured, while 3,396 people had been evacuated from the affected areas.

Suharyanto, who goes by one name, said in the statement that the death toll could rise further and called for heavy equipment to be deployed to help the search effort.

“The data will continue to develop. To help find (victims) who are still missing, the heavy equipment must come in as quickly as possible,” he said.

He added that the search was urgent as rescuers only had a “golden time” of six days to find survivors.