One dead, 12 missing in Indonesian landslide

In this handout photograph released by Suara Merdeka on January 23, 2014 and taken January 22, 2014, residents salvage belongings from their houses destroyed by a landslide at a village in Kudus district in Central Java province. -AFP/Suara Merdeka

JAKARTA: A woman has been killed and 12 other people are missing after torrential rains triggered a landslide that buried sleeping villagers on Indonesia's main Java island, an official said Thursday.

Rescuers were digging by hand through mounds of earth in Kudus district, central Java, to reach six houses buried by the landslide as the area was too remote to be reached by heavy machinery.