A landslide in the city of Cilacap buried a dozen houses in Cibeunying village, the disaster mitigation agency said. Search and rescue efforts have been difficult as victims were buried 3 to 8 metres (10 to 25 feet) deep.
The Cilacap landslide has killed at least 16 people, with seven still missing, said M. Abdullah, chief of the local search and rescue division. Excavators were deployed to dig through debris, footage from news channel KompasTV showed on Monday.
Read More: At least 32 miners dead after bridge fails at cobalt site in southeast DR Congo
Separately, two people died and 27 were missing after a landslide on Saturday in Banjarnegara, also in Central Java, the disaster mitigation agency said. As many as 30 houses and farms were damaged.
Indonesia’s wet season began in September and is expected to last until April, increasing the risk of extreme rainfall and flooding, the weather agency said.