JAKARTA (AFP) – At least 10 people are still missing after flash floods and a landslide hit a village near Lake Toba on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, a rescue official said yesterday.
The landslide and floods caused by torrential rain hit residential areas in a village in North Sumatra province late on Friday, killing one person, a 78-year-old woman, sweeping away dozens of houses and destroying a hotel.
Eleven people were initially declared missing but rescuers found another body yesterday, head of Medan search and rescue agency Budiono said in a statement. Among the missing are children aged six and eight.
The search efforts have been divided on water and land, with several boats and divers scouring for the missing while excavations and scouting around Lake Toba were taking place, he said.
They were using sonar detection, fearing their bodies may have been dragged into the world’s biggest volcanic lake, the official said. Around 140 people were evacuated from the village, according to the national search and rescue agency Basarnas.
