Landslide Kills 17 on Indonesian Island
Pastor Dale Morgan
Landslide Kills 17 on Indonesian Island*
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 14, 2006; 10:49 PM
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A landslide swept over a remote village on
Indonesia's Sumatra island before dawn Friday, killing at least 17
people, local officials said.
A number of other people were still missing, the officials said.
"Villagers are still searching for victims and some bodies have been
pulled from the mud," Yurnaldi Nurdin, a city council member, told Metro
TV Friday.
The landslide struck the village of Air Dingin, about 560 miles
northwest of the capital Jakarta, before dawn Friday, he said.
Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year
in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands, where millions
of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.
In June, severe flooding and landslides killed more than 210 people on
Sulawesi island.