Rescuers continued searching on Sunday for five people missing after a landslide smashed into a passenger bus in Indonesia’s West Sumatra and killed 38 people, but had lost hope of finding survivors.
”So far we have found 38 bodies and according to our estimate there are still about five passengers missing,” police Second Inspector Suwardi said from Pasaman district where the landslide buried the bus on Friday.
The five were believed to be trapped on the bus, although police were trying to verify witnesses reports that two passengers had managed to jump from the vehicle and continued their journey, he said.
Asked of the chances of survival of anyone still on the bus, he said: ”It is believed they are now already dead.”
”We believe those missing are in the front part of the bus, as when the landslide hit, most of the people rushed to the front to leave through the door,” Suwardi said.
The landslide completely buried the bus under soil, trees and bushes. Police, soldiers and civilian volunteers used a bulldozer and chainsaws on Sunday in their search for the missing and had uncovered the top of the bus, Suwardi said.
Twelve survivors were being treated at a hospital in the district town of Lubuksikaping, he said.
The bus was 34km from Lubuksikaping, its destination, and had come from Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, about 428km away.
It was on a mountain road near the boundary of West and North Sumatra provinces when the landslide, triggered by rains, crashed down.
Deadly landslides are relatively frequent in Indonesia and officials have cited deforestation as a contributing factor.
At least 12 people died on Wednesday when a landslide buried homes in a village in Indonesia’s West Java province. — Sapa-AFP