After monsoon rains triggered flash floods on Indonesia’s Sumatra island over the weekend, sending torrents of cold lava and mud, killing at least 44 people and leaving 15 more missing, rescuers said Monday that more Many bodies were recovered.
Heavy rains and a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi caused the river to burst its banks. Just before midnight on Saturday, deluges hit mountainside villages along four districts in West Sumatra province.
National Disaster Management Authority spokesperson Abdul Muhari said the floods had swept away people, submerged hundreds of homes and buildings, and forced more than 3,100 people to seek temporary government evacuation centers in Agam and Tanah Datar districts. He said he was forced to evacuate.
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Cold lava, also known as lahar, is a mixture of volcanic material and pebbles washed down the slopes of volcanoes by rainwater.
More bodies were discovered on Monday, bringing the death toll to 44, Muhari told a news conference. He said at least 19 people were injured in the flash floods and rescue teams were searching for 15 villagers.
Television reports showed relatives mourning as rescue workers dragged mud-covered bodies from the devastated village. The body was placed in an orange and black bag and taken away for burial.
People inspect buildings damaged by flash floods in Agam, West Sumatra, Indonesia, May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fakhri Hamza)
Abdul Malik, head of the search and rescue office in the provincial capital Padang, said authorities sent tractors and other heavy equipment into the area over washed-out roads after flash floods covered hilly communities in mud and rocks. It was said that it was difficult to carry it.
Hundreds of police, soldiers and residents used their hands, shovels and hoes to dig through the rubble as rain, damaged roads and thick mud hampered progress.
“We really need more excavators and mud pumps because the affected area is so vast and complex,” Malik said.
Video released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed roads turned into muddy brown rivers and villages covered in thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees.
Mukhari said search and rescue operations were called off late Monday as darkness and rain made the affected areas along the river unstable. Surgery is scheduled to resume early Tuesday.
In Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, heavy rains frequently cause landslides and flash floods, and millions of people live near mountainous areas and floodplains.
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This weekend’s disaster comes just two months after heavy rains caused flash floods and landslides in West Sumatra province, killing at least 26 people and leaving 11 missing.
A sudden eruption of Mount Marapi late last year killed 23 climbers. Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center said it was difficult to predict the mountain’s sudden eruption because the eruption source was shallow and near the summit.
Marapi has been active since its eruption in January 2024, which caused no casualties. Indonesia has over 120 active volcanoes. The country is prone to seismic upheaval because it sits on the Pacific Rim of Volcano, an arc of volcanoes and faults that encircles the Pacific Basin.
