20 missing as landslide buries houses in Indonesia's East Java

JAKARTA, Feb 15 (dpa): At least two people were reported dead. 14 already on the injured list another 20 people were missing after a landslide slammed into houses overnight in Indonesia's East Java province, the country's disaster management agency said Monday.

At least 14 people were injured in the rain-triggered landslide in Nganjuk district on Sunday evening, said Raditya Jati, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.

A search was under way for the missing, he said.

Elsewhere in the province, flash floods hit nine villages, inundating homes with water as high as one metre, the agency said.

Deadly floods and landslides are common in Indonesia during the rainy season from October to April.

According to the emergency response unit at the Nganjuk Social Affairs Agency, rescuers retrieved two bodies and rescued two people in Nganjuk district, reported Xinhua.

"Heavy lifting equipment is currently on its way to the location. And 16 people are still not found," the unit's coordinator Aris Trio Effendi was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying on Monday.

Effendi said the area with many residential houses is prone to landslides. At least 13 houses have been damaged.

According to him, at least 160 people have been evacuated. - dpa