Landslide
© Sutopo Purwo Nugroho‏
More than two dozen people have been reported missing after a landslide struck a village in Indonesia this morning.

Up to 30 houses are feared buried, and rescuers believe that 38 people are currently missing.

Heavy rain is responsible for the landslide. Those missing are believed to have been harvesting ginger on the slopes of Banaran village in East Java.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the landslide hit up to 30 houses.

The latest report from the local mitigation agency said 27 people were buried, while a local army chief put the number of missing at 38 based on reports from villagers, AP reports.


The landslide overturned vehicles, shattered and buried buildings, and left a massive scar on a hillside where lush vegetation had been torn away.

Disaster agency rescuers, soldiers, police officers and volunteers were searching for the missing, Nugroho said.

Seasonal rains cause frequent floods in Indonesia. Many of the country's 256 million people live in mountainous areas or fertile, flood-prone plains near rivers.

People had been warned about the threat of a landslide, and the area was evacuated at night, but farmers returned in the early morning to work, it is understood.