Jakarta, July 8. At least 8 people died and 22 remain missing after a landslide struck an illegal gold mine on Indonesia's Sulawesi Island, emergency teams told EFE on Monday.
Rescue operations, in which dozens of troops are participating, are underway to try to locate the missing among the rubble of the landslide that hit a small settlement of houses located near the illegal mine.
The incident occurred on Sunday morning in northern Sulawesi Island's Suwawa district due to heavy rains in the region, the country's disaster management agency said in a statement.
A representative of the National Search and Rescue Agency told EFE that eight bodies have been recovered so far while another three - still classified as missing - have been found by residents but have yet to be officially verified.
Tough times for the island
Emergency tasks are being affected by weather conditions and difficulty in accessing the area. Five people are being treated for their injuries at a hospital in the region.
Dozens of people die each year in Indonesia in floods and landslides during the rainy season, which usually lasts from November to February. According to environmentalists, many of these natural disasters have been made worse by deforestation that is devastating the country's tropical forests. EFE