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View all search resultsWest Bandung landslide kills eight, more than 80 missing
Environmentalists, experts and the government have pointed to the role forest loss played in the flooding and landslides across islands in Indonesia.
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Debris from destroyed houses remains after a landslide struck in Pasirlangu village in West Bandung regency, West Java, on January 24, 2026, as the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said eight people were killed and 82 remain missing. (AFP/Timur Matahari)
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landslide killed at least eight people and left more than 80 missing in Cisarua district in West Bandung regency, West Java, on Saturday, a disaster official said.
Triggered by heavy rainfall, it struck villages in the district in the early hours and buried residential areas.
Floods and landslides are common across the vast archipelago during the rainy season, which typically runs from October to March.
At 2:30 a.m., "there was a rumbling noise, like thunder", Oyoh, a resident of Pasirlangu village, told AFP.
"It had been raining non-stop since the morning, and then it [the landslide] happened. I immediately felt scared."
The 52-year-old had been evacuated to the village's government office along with dozens of others, mainly women and children.
She said her house survived the landslide, but her niece, her niece's husband and their two children were missing.
Read also: Heavy rain, coastal erosion compound flooding threats in Java
Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the National Disaster and Mitigation Agency (BNPB), confirmed that eight people were killed and 82 were unaccounted for.
West Bandung Regent Jeje Ritchie Ismail told reporters that the military, police and volunteers were assisting in the search.
However, he warned the terrain was extremely difficult and the ground remained unstable.
The local search and rescue agency said it was conducting manual excavation, spraying the soil with water pumps and using drones to search for the victims.
The disaster comes after tropical storms and intense monsoon rains late last year triggered flooding and landslides that killed around 1,200 people and displaced more than 240,000 in three provinces in Sumatra, according to official figures.
Read also: Persistent floods kill 5, paralyze transport across Java
Environmentalists, experts and the government have pointed to the role forest loss played in the flooding and landslides that washed torrents of mud into villages.
Forests help absorb rainfall and stabilize the ground held by their roots, and their absence makes areas more prone to flash flooding and landslides, David Gaveau, founder of conservation start-up The TreeMap, told AFP in December.
Indonesia lost more than 240,000 hectares of primary forest in 2024, according to analysis by The TreeMap's Nusantara Atlas project.
It is regularly among the countries with the largest annual forest loss as mining, plantations and fires have caused the clearance of large tracts of lush vegetation in recent decades, NGOs have said.
The government filed multiple lawsuits following the Sumatra floods, seeking more than $200 million in damages against six firms.
It also stripped more than two dozen permits this week from forestry, mining and hydroelectric companies in Sumatra.
This month, torrential rains battered Siau island in Siau Tagulandang Biaro islands regency, North Sulawesi, causing a flash flood that killed at least 16 people.
