HUNDREDS of rescuers were searching through thick mud and debris to find survivors yesterday after a rain-triggered landslide in Indonesia killed at least 19 people and left seven missing.

Intense rainfall in a mountainous area near Pekalongan city in Central Java province sparked the landslide on Monday, collapsing bridges and burying cars and houses.

“The joint search and rescue team managed to find and evacuate two bodies... on Wednesday (yesterday) morning.

“The number of fatalities recorded as of this afternoon is 19 people,” said Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

“The two bodies found this morning were part of the list of people reported missing in the tragic event,” he added, lowering the number of missing by two to seven.

Search and rescue agency Basarnas said in a statement yesterday that 13 people were also injured.

Heavy machinery was deployed to clear road access for search teams and around 200 rescue personnel have been sent to help the rescue effort, local official Mohammad Yulian Akbar said.

“The focus is to search for the victims,” he said, adding that the local government had declared an emergency in the district for two weeks.

The worst-hit area was Kasimpar village according to the local official, where the landslide struck a coffee shop and people who were trying to shelter from the rain.

Police, soldiers and volunteers have joined the search alongside rescue workers, which is taking place around 90 kilometres west of the city of Semarang.

But efforts were intermittently suspended on Tuesday as heavy rain continued to pound the area.

The weather forecast for the next three days suggests moderate rain that could “cause floods, flash floods and landslides”, warned Muhari on Tuesday.

Indonesia is prone to landslides during the rainy season, typically between November and April.

Ratusan penyelamat mencari di sebalik lumpur tebal mencari mangsa yang terselamat pada semalam, selepas kejadian tanah runtuh di sini, yang dicetuskan hujan mengorbankan sekurang-kurangnya 17 dan menyebabkan sembilan hilang.

Hujan lebat di kawasan pergunungan berhampiran bandar Pekalongan di wilayah Jawa Tengah mencetuskan tanah runtuh pada Isnin lalu, menyebabkan jambatan runtuh, dan menimbus kereta serta rumah.

Agensi mencari dan menyelamat Basarnas dalam satu kenyataan berkata, jumlah korban kekal tidak berubah dari Selasa iaitu 17 maut, sembilan hilang dan 13 cedera.

Tetapi satu lagi mayat ditemukan, kata seorang pegawai tempatan, Mohammad Yulian Akbar kepada AFP lewat Rabu, menjadikan jumlah keseluruhan mangsa kepada 18 orang.

Jentera berat dikerahkan untuk mengosongkan laluan jalan untuk pasukan pencarian dan kira-kira 200 anggota penyelamat dihantar untuk membantu, kata Akbar.

“Fokus adalah untuk mencari mangsa,” katanya sambil menambah kerajaan tempatan mengisytiharkan darurat di daerah itu selama dua minggu.

Kawasan paling teruk terjejas ialah Kampung Kasimpar, di mana tanah runtuh melanda sebuah kedai kopi dan orang ramai yang cuba berlindung daripada hujan.

Polis, askar dan sukarelawan menyertai pencarian bersama pekerja penyelamat, di lokasi terletak kira-kira 90 kilometer di barat kota Semarang.

Tetapi usaha-usaha dihentikan seketika pada Selasa kerana hujan lebat di kawasan itu.

Ramalan cuaca untuk tiga hari akan datang menunjukkan hujan sederhana yang boleh menyebabkan banjir, banjir kilat dan tanah runtuh.

Indonesian rescuers retrieved two more bodies after resuming their search for people missing after floods and landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java, bringing the death toll to 19.

Waters from flooded rivers tore through nine villages in Pekalongan regency of Central Java province and landslides tumbled onto mountainside hamlets after the torrential rains on Monday.

Videos and photos released by the national search and Rescue agency showed workers digging desperately in villages where roads and green-terraced rice fields were transformed into murky brown mud and villages were covered by thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees.

national disaster Management agency spokesperson abdul Muhari said flooding triggered a landslide that buried two houses and a cafe in the Petungkriyono resort area.

The disasters destroyed a total of 25 houses, a dam and three main bridges connecting villages in Pekalongan at least 13 people were injured and nearly 300 people were forced to flee to temporary government shelters.

The search and rescue operation that was hampered by bad weather, mudslides and rugged terrain was halted on Tuesday afternoon due to heavy rain and thick fog that made devastated areas along the rivers dangerous to rescuers.

Yesterday, they searched in rivers and the rubble of villages for bodies and, whenever possible, survivors in worst-hit Kasimpar village, said Budiono, who heads a local rescue office.

scores of rescue personnel recovered two mud-caked bodies as they searched a Petungkriyono area where tons of mud and rocks buried two houses and a cafe.

Rescuers are still searching for seven people reported missing.

Landslides and floods were also reported in many other provinces, Muhari said. On Monday, a landslide hit five houses in DenPasar on the tourist island of Bali, killing four people and leaving one missing.

Heavy seasonal rain from around October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.

studies have found that landslides could become more frequent as climate change increases rainfall.

There are two fundamental hazards in industrial gases – the gas itself and the high pressure under which it is stored in cylinders.

If mishandled or fitted with substandard parts, industrial gas cylinders can turn into “deadly missiles” that can lead to disaster, according to veteran chemist Datuk Dr Omar Shawkataly (pic).

The retired Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) professor of chemistry said the pressure in cylinders was typically between 1,500psi and 2,000psi or higher.

That is way higher than the 200psi of a domestic cooking gas tank.

Dr Omar said mishaps were often caused by fittings, namely the valves, regulators and hoses.

“The cylinders have thick walls to withstand the high pressure within, but the problem often lies in the fittings. If it is of poor quality and breaks off, the high pressure will send the weighty cylinder rocketing away like a missile.

“This can be extremely dangerous. This is why gas cylinders must be secured well against a strong wall with thick solid steel chains and not raffia string.

“The same should be done when they are transported,” said Dr Omar who has researched compressed gases for over 40 years and specialises in carbonyl chemistry.

He said even the wrong use of material in manufacturing valves can be a hazard. Valves made from copper or copper alloys, if used for tanks containing acetylene gas, could result in an explosion as the gas reacts adversely to the metal. He said proper installation of valves and hoses are also equally important.

The chartered chemist said that while leaks from flammable gas may cause fires or explosions, non-flammable gases can prove to be equally deadly, especially when it involves cryogenic gases.

Dr Omar said these gases are are extremely cold, at around -115ºc, and can expand to very high volumes when exposed to air.

Pure cryogenic oxygen can cause asphyxiation if released in enclosures.

“A litre of cryogenic liquid can expand to over 200 times more in open air. If there is a leak of liquid oxygen, it can choke us because the air we breathe contains 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen.

“If oxygen levels go way beyond this, it can displace nitrogen. If nitrogen levels go up or down, we die,” said Dr Omar who was with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health as an observer for 15 years.

While there are comprehensive laws governing industrial gas in Malaysia, there is inadequate training on safety for workers.

“More training should be held for the workers around an environment surrounded with high pressure gases. Various types of valves may not be interchangeable with the use of different gases.

“Refilling cylinders with gases they were not built for or accidentally mixing two kinds of gases can also be disastrous. Some ‘empty’ cylinders could have residual gas trapped in them,” said Dr Omar, who felt industrial gas parts and fittings must be made to meet Sirim standards.