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.