Landslides in Indonesia leave at least 11 dead

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Two landslides triggered by heavy rain in Indonesia left at least 11 dead and 18 injured, officials said Sunday.

The second landslide in Cihanjuang village in the Sumedang district of West Java province occurred as rescuers were still evacuating people following the first disaster on Saturday, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Raditya Jati.

Rescuers were among the victims, he said.

The rain stopped on Saturday night. A bridge and roads were blocked by the landslides as authorities struggled to bring in heavy equipment to clear the debris.

Seasonal rains and high tide in recent days have caused dozens of landslides and widespread flooding across much of Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains close to rivers.