Landslide triggered by rain in Indonesia kills at least 7 people

SIBOLANGIT, INDONESIA — A landslide triggered by torrential rains in Indonesia’s Sumatra island killed at least seven people, officials said on Thursday, adding to the death toll from landslides in the region this week.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of the victims, including a driver and passengers, from a tourist bus that was covered by trees, mud and rocks on the road from the capital, Medan, to Berastagi in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. The route is the main access from Medan to other districts.

The bus was among vehicles that had been cut off by landslides on the road since Wednesday morning.

More than 10 people were also injured and have been evacuated to the hospital in Medan.

Muji Ediyanto, traffic director of the North Sumatra Regional Police, said in a video message distributed by Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency on Thursday said that some vehicles remain trapped between the landslide locations along that road.

“It will take at least two days to evacuate them from the landslide. Several vehicles are still trapped by piles [from the] landslides. There are also fallen trees at several points ... and the vehicles have not been able to get out of the locations,” Ediyanto said.

Earlier this week, 20 people died after flash floods and landslides at four locations in the mountainsides of North Sumatra province, including in Karo regency, which is located less than 20 kilometers from the most-recent landslide location.

Seasonal rains from around October through to March frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.