Mystery of Ten Unidentified Landslide Victims Buried in Mass Grave in West Bandung District

Ten bodies of victims from a landslide in Pasirlangu Village, Cisarua District, West Bandung District (KBB), West Java, were buried in a mass grave in a single burial plot on Friday, 27 February 2026. However, the names of the victims remain unknown.

The bodies, which had been placed in coffins, were buried at Tanah Mati Public Cemetery in Batunyatuh Hamlet, Pasirlangu Village. Given that their identities were still unconfirmed, the grave markers were not inscribed with names but instead bore temporary designations: “PM” (Post Mortem) followed by sequential numbers.

These designations corresponded to the order in which the remains were discovered at the Cisarua landslide site during search and rescue operations conducted from 24 January to 14 February 2026. All ten victims remained unidentified at the time of burial, but were laid to rest based on humanitarian grounds.

Deputy Head of the Police Medical Division at the West Java Regional Police Headquarters, Adjunct Commissioner Ani Rasiani, stated that authorities would continue efforts to identify the ten victims buried in the mass grave. She explained that there were two additional stages for identifying the ten individuals, namely DNA matching with families who had reported missing persons when the landslide occurred.

“DNA samples have already been collected; we are now waiting to see if matches can be found,” Rasiani said at the burial site. “The identification will be easier if the deceased were from the same nuclear family—parents and children—but if they were from extended family such as aunts and uncles, further investigative measures will be necessary. Nuclear family identifications are naturally simpler.”