DHAKA: Torrential downpours triggered a landslide on Indonesia’s main island of Java, killing at least 17 people and leaving nearly 100 others missing, with persistent rain hampering rescue efforts.

Officials said Saturday, reports The Straits Times.

Hundreds of rescuers were digging with shovels through mud and rubble after the landslide buried scores of houses in Jemblung village in central Java late Friday, the national disaster agency said.

The landslide swept down a hillside in the village, sparing only two houses, a media correspondent said.

‘The rescue team have found 17 bodies,’ the national disaster agency’s spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, told the media, adding that 11 others were badly injured and rescuers were searching for 91 people still missing.

** 8 killed, 100 missing in Indonesia Landslide

BDST: 1624 HRS, DEC 13, 2014