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By APD writer Maverick
JAKARTA, Dec. 19 (APD) — Indonesian joint rescuer team managed to retrieve 8 bodies on Monday, saved 8 others from a landslide occurred in a sand pit located in Central Java province’s regency of Magelang with body counts feared to increase as more people believed still buried alive under the debris.
Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that searching efforts were now underway to retrieve those buried in the landslide, carried out by joint rescuer team joined by the military, police, fire fighters, volunteers and BNPB Magelang personnel.
Sutopo said rescuers used excavators to remove the debris in the landslide location.
“It was no rain when the landslide suddenly occurred, burying the workers when they excavated the sand in the pit. We don't know the exact number of workers working in the location at that time,” Sutopo said, adding that the landslide occurred at 10.00 a.m. in the morning.
They were buried alive by sand wall in the pit that suddenly collapsed on them, he added.
According to Sutopo, such a deadly event have occurred several times before, particularly during the rainy season, in the sand pits which commonly operating around the area.
Sands in those pits were volcanic materials sourced from the eruption of the province’s volcano, Mount Merapi, during its eruptions several years ago.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
