By Yuddy Cahya Budiman
BANDUNG BARAT, Indonesia, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Rain is hampering the search for 32 people still missing five days after a landslide hit Indonesia’s West Java province, the disaster mitigation agency said on Wednesday, as it raised the death toll to 34.
The landslide struck Pasir Langu village in Bandung Barat region early on Saturday, triggered by heavy rains that started a day earlier.
Among those missing is the brother of Muhammad Rifal Firmansyah, 14. Rifal has spent the past four days at the landslide site, digging through mud and rocks and showing rescuers photographs of his father, mother, and brother on his phone.
His father and mother were found dead on Tuesday but his brother remains missing. Several other relatives have also not been found, his aunt said.
Rifal was 50 km (30 miles) away in an Islamic boarding school when the landslide struck and he learned of the disaster from a cousin.
“I contacted everyone at home but no one responded. Then I knew, it hit my home. I cried,” he said.
“We had landslides before but small, it would just pass the front of the house. This time, it levelled everything. Everything’s gone.”
The village is in a hilly area of the province about 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.
“It’s raining in the landslide site this morning but all the rescuers are ready to continue the search, waiting for the right timing,” disaster mitigation agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.
The death toll rose to 34 from the previous count of 20. Another 23 people survived the disaster.
Twenty-three soldiers were killed while conducting border patrol training, the Indonesian Navy said on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear whether the latest death toll included those soldiers, Muhari said.
A team is currently working at the scene to identify the bodies, Muhari added.
At least 800 rescuers, military and police personnel along with nine excavators have been deployed to find the remaining missing people.
(Reporting by Yuddy Cahya Budiman in West Bandung and Ananda Teresia in Jakarta; Editing by David Stanway and Alison Williams)
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