JAKARTA ~ Eleven people have been found dead following a landslide at a hospital staff housing complex in eastern Indonesia, bringing to an end the search for bodies, police and officials said.
“We have recovered all eleven bodies at about 5:00pm,” regional police chief Max Donald Aer said on Tuesday, adding that a six-month-old baby was among the dead.
Five people, including the baby’s mother, were saved and were being treated at a hospital intensive care following the slide in the easternmost province of Papua, he said.
A hill behind the housing complex gave way in the early hours of Tuesday after heavy rains hit the provincial capital of Jayapura, although the hospital, which was 50 metres away, was not damaged, he said.
The state-run Antara news agency reported that heavy rains, which began on Monday evening, had caused up to two meters of flooding in some areas of the hilly city, causing massive traffic congestion.
Landslides and flooding are common in Indonesia during the rainy season, which hits a peak from December to February.
Earlier this month more than 110 people were killed in Java following a series of landslides and flooding.