Scores die in Indonesia landslide

Source Al Jazeera

At least 72 people have been killed on Indonesia's main island of Java after heavy rains triggered major landslides in a tea plantation, the state-run Antara news agency has reported. The agency quoted Sofyan Nataprawira, a disaster management centre co-ordinator, as saying 25 people are believed to have been killed in the plantation's factory and office and another 47 among the tea plants. Police had earlier said five tea plantation workers were killed and that another 60 remained buried by the landslide. Police Chief Lieutenant-Colonel Imron Yunus said the landslide occurred at a tea plantation in mountains in the Ciwidey district after days of heavy rain. Step Vaessen, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jakarta, said that landslide had been caused by rain water and compounded by deforestation in the area.