Authorities have raised the official death toll from landslides on the island of Serasan in Indonesia’s northwestern province of Riau to 30 after finding nine more bodies, while 24 people are still missing.
This Thursday marks five days of searches after six days of torrential rains, typical of this time of the year in this area of Southeast Asia, reports the Indonesian newspaper ‘Kompas’.
The last nine bodies rescued were under the rubble. The authorities have regretted that the bad weather is hampering the rescue work, partly also because the main access roads, already precarious, have also collapsed.
More than a hundred policemen from the Riau Provincial Headquarters have been deployed in the area to help in the rescue work, as well as another fifty emergency officials. Two helicopters and a plane have arrived from Jakarta to deliver humanitarian aid to those affected.
The Natuna Islands are part of the island province of Riau in the South China Sea, about 1,100 kilometers northeast of Jakarta.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
