Search for Bantargebang Landslide Victims Hampered by Waste Pile and Hazardous Gas
BEKASI – The search operation for victims of the waste pile landslide at Bantargebang Waste Treatment Site (TPST) in Bekasi continued on Monday, 9 March 2026, led by a combined team of rescue personnel.
However, the evacuation process faced several significant obstacles, including the height of the waste accumulation and the presence of hazardous gases at the site.
“The waste pile is extremely high and there is concern about gas content because this is waste, so it is very dangerous for health,” said Akhmad Rizkiansyah, Head of Operations Section at Jakarta Search and Rescue Command (Kantor SAR Jakarta), to journalists on Monday, 9 March 2026.
Additionally, Akhmad noted that weather conditions also affected the search operation.
According to preliminary data, there were 13 victims in the landslide incident. “Four have been found alive, four persons have been found dead, and the remaining five are still missing according to reports received from the police,” said Rizkiansyah.
The five victims still being searched for consist of two refuse truck drivers and three waste pickers who were at the site when the landslide occurred. The two refuse trucks allegedly missing in the incident were found in severely damaged condition.
In the search operation, the SAR team deployed heavy equipment to open the waste piles at the incident site. “Currently our search is using heavy equipment or excavators from the Department of Sanitation (DLH). We have a total of approximately 15 excavators,” said Rizkiansyah.
The search operation also involved 336 combined personnel from Basarnas, the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), National Police (Polri), Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Department of Health, Department of Sanitation, Fire and Rescue Department (Damkar), and Civil Enforcement Unit (Satpol PP).
“When the refuse truck was queuing to dump waste at around 14:30 Western Indonesian Time, suddenly the waste pile collapsed causing the driver who was queuing to dump waste to be buried by the landslide,” said rescue officer Eko Uban from the Bekasi City Fire and Rescue Department to journalists on Sunday, 8 March 2026.
Observations by journalists at the site on Monday, 9 March 2026, revealed several pools of water still remaining around the landslide area as a result of heavy rain that had fallen on the region in recent days.
At the location, a command post for reporting missing persons from the Bantargebang waste treatment facility disaster was established, with police doctors (Dokpol) from Bekasi City Metro Police District also stationed there.