REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PURWOKERTO -- Eighteen people were still missing, after a landslide hit Brebes district, Central Java, on Thursday morning. Coordinator of a National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) post in Cilacap, Central Java, Mulwahyono said the numbers was based on reports from families.
"We are still waiting for further development. So far, five people have been found dead, while 14 others have been saved," he stated.
He noted that one of the survivors had been taken to a hospital for bone fracture.
With regard to the missing people, he remarked that a joint search and rescue team in Brebes was still assessing the condition of the earth at the location of the incident to determine the method to trace them.
The spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, explained that "the SAR team has difficulties finding the victims, as the earth was still moving and landslide materials still remained soft, thick, and massive. Heavy equipment cannot be used to find the victims. The cloudy weather with potential rain may also add to the difficulties."
The landslide occurred at 8 a.m. on Thursday in a production forest belonging to state-owned forestry company Perhutani in the village of Pasir Panjang, Salem sub-district.
The earth that slid from the hill buried farmers toiling in the land below.
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