PEKALONGAN - Hundreds of rescuers were searching through thick mud and debris to find survivors Wednesday after a rain-triggered landslide in Indonesia killed at least 19 people and left seven missing.
Intense rainfall in a mountainous area near Pekalongan city in Central Java province sparked the landslide on Monday, collapsing bridges and burying cars and houses.
"The joint search and rescue team managed to find and evacuate two bodies... on Wednesday morning. The number of fatalities recorded as of this afternoon is 19 people," said Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
"The two bodies found this morning were part of the list of people reported missing in the tragic event," he added, lowering the number of missing by two to seven.
Search and rescue agency Basarnas said in a statement Wednesday that 13 people were also injured.
Heavy machinery was deployed to clear road access for search teams and around 200 rescue personnel have been sent to help the rescue effort, local official Mohammad Yulian Akbar said.
"The focus is to search for the victims," he said, adding that the local government had declared an emergency in the district for two weeks.
The worst hit area was Kasimpar village according to the local official, where the landslide struck a coffee shop and people who were trying to shelter from the rain.
Police, soldiers and volunteers have joined the search alongside rescue workers, which is taking place around 90 kilometres west of the city of Semarang.
But efforts were intermittently suspended Tuesday as heavy rain continued to pound the area.
The weather forecast for the next three days suggests moderate rain that could "cause floods, flash floods and landslides", warned Muhari on Tuesday.