Kutai landslide death toll rises to 30

JAKARTA (JP): The number of casualties in a major landslide that struck a traditional gold mine in East Kalimantan regency of Kutai on Tuesday has risen to 30, Antara reported on Thursday.

Rescue workers who were rushed to the location near Babi River in Long Iram district said search efforts would continue until they unearthed three more victims.

"Most of the bodies discovered were under the mud," according to the officer who led the search, Kutai Police chief Lt. Col. Abdul Madjid R.

Rescue workers with the help of locals, a team of police from the nearby city of Tenggarong and the military managed to dig out more bodies after finding nine fatalities on Tuesday.

Postmortem examinations were done by doctors in Tering Hospital. Most victims have been retrieved and buried by their families.

The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon when the mine's mud walls collapsed due to unstable ground and 40 gold miners were buried alive.

The traditional mine measured about 50 meters in diameter and 40 meters deep.

According to Abdul, seven miners survived the landslide, including Supardi, 40, Sugianto, 50, Ride, 27, Doyok, 18, and Langsung, 18. The other two are being treated in Tering Hospital for severe injuries and have been identified as Rahman, 18, and Toni, 21.

Kutai Police detained H. Nawing, the gold miners' coordinator, for further investigation.

Sorrow enveloped Kutai residents as they watched rescue workers pull out the bodies from the mounds of mud and place them in a line.

"The residents have been told many times not to mine there because they are digging on unstable, dangerous ground," Abdul said.

The traditional mine was located next to the province's largest gold mine, owned by PT Kelian Equatorial Mining, according to the news agency.

It has been also reported that traditional mining was banned at the site due to its negative impact on the environment. (edt)