Landslides hit C. Java, kill sand miners in Sleman
Slamet Susanto and Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Brebes | Fri, 01/08/2010 8:40 PM
Landslides hit several areas in Central Java amid the current rainy season, while in Yogyakarta three sand miners were buried to death Friday in a similar disaster.
The three miners were killed in Glagaharjo subdistrict, Yogyakarta, while quarrying sand from Mt. Merapi, when an embankment of the Gendol River fell on them.
The three were identified as Murtini, 40, Suranto, 46, and his wife Ngatimen. All were residents of Glagahharjo, Sleman regency.
“They were busy with sand mining work when the steep embankment suddenly fell on them,” Giyanto of Sleman Search and Rescue (SAR) team said Friday.
Giyanto added that the 50-meter-high embankment had been affected rainfall for several days prior to the accident, which occured at around 9:30 a.m. on Friday.
The SAR team, with help from local residents, spent more than two hours retrieving the bodies of the victims manually, heavy equipment was feared to cause further landslides on other parts of the river.
In Central Java, landslides hit a number of areas across the province including in Brebes regency.
At least two houses were severely damaged when a 4-meter-high embankment fell onto them, in Karangpari subdistrict, Brebes, very early on Friday morning, after several hours of heavy rain.
