30 die, over 100 missing in mud slide tragedy
30 die, over 100 missing in mud slide tragedy
The Jakarta Post, Agencies
At least 30 people are dead and more than 100 others are missing
after a mudslide, triggered by days of heavy rain, hit a hot
springs resort in the East Java town of Pacet on Wednesday,
police and medical staff said.
The death toll will likely soar as some 100 people are
reported missing in the fatal disaster that struck the hot
springs resort, according to the official Antara news agency.
The springs are located on the slope of Mt. Welirang.
Police and government officials in Mojokerto said tons of rock
and mud loosened by a flash flood buried three hot spring pools
and one swimming pool in Pacet.
Most of the victims were aged between four and 10 years old,
who were bathing in the pools. They were enjoying a break from
school after celebrating the Idul Fitri holiday.
"Following the heavy rain, a sudden flash flood hit the hot
springs, which were filled with about 50 to 60 people at the
time. Many of them could not save themselves and most of the
victims were children," a local correspondent of private Metro TV
said.
"Witnesses heard a strong sound of rushing water seconds
before mud and earth suddenly poured into the pools. Many of the
victims were hit by large stones and washed away into a nearby
river," Sukardi, a police officer in Mojokerto, told AFP.
Lt. Col. Sobri Effendi, another local police officer, said
villagers found some of the victims in the Mojosari river several
kilometers away from the complex.
"There is a pine forest above the hot springs and there has
been illegal wood cutting there," Sukardi said.
The mud flow was running at the speed of 70 kilometers per
hour when it swept through the recreation center.
A doctor at a public hospital in Pacet also confirmed that the
death toll had reached 30 and all of them had been sent to
hospitals in other parts of the province.
A doctor, Krisnawan, said two bodies from his hospital and 21
from the health clinic had been sent to the Sumber Glagah
Hospital in Mojokerto. "We fear that there could be more
victims," he said.
The Dr. Soetomo General Hospital in Surabaya has deployed a
medical team to provide first aid to victims at the scene.
However, only 10 of the dead victims have been identified, the
doctor said, adding that hundreds more were being treated for
their injuries at hospitals.
Local rescue workers, police officers, villagers and family
members were digging away at the debris to reach those trapped
underneath the mud and combing the area along the Mojosari river.
Sigit, a staff member at the local office of state-owned
forestry company PT Perhutani, said a search and rescue team from
Perhutani, the resort management and the local police were
searching for more victims and those listed as missing.
Pacet is 30 kilometers southeast of Mojokerto near the
country's second largest city of Surabaya. The flash flood
followed three days of rain. Heavy rain has fallen over large
parts of Java in recent days.
Floods, land and mud slides are common in Indonesia during the
rainy season, which usually runs from October to April. Many are
blamed on rampant deforestation by loggers and housing
developers.
The Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan ended over the weekend,
and many Indonesians are enjoying an extended holiday after Idul
Fitri.
A local staff member of the Environmental Forum (Walhi),
Syafrudin Ngulma, blamed the state Perhutani forest company for
ignoring the illegal felling of trees in the area above the hot
springs.
"Perhutani, which manages the hot springs resort, should be
held responsible for the incident since it didn't warn visitors
about the disaster," he said.
He also called on the relevant local authorities to take
action against PT Perhutani and illegal sawmills which engage in
rampant illegal logging in the conserved forests of the
mountainous region.
Mojokerto Regent Achmadi regretted the tragedy that took so
many lives, and said that the tourist resort would be redesigned
to avoid other tragedies from occurring in the future.