JAKARTA: Rescuers recovered more bodies on Tuesday after weekend flash floods and cold lava flow on Indonesia's Sumatra island killed at least 57 people and left another 22 missing, provincial officials said. Hours of heavy rain caused large volcanic rocks to roll down one of Indonesia's most active volcanos into six districts on Sumatra island Saturday evening while flooding inundated roads, homes and mosques.
"To date, 57 victims have been found dead," Ilham Wahab, West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency official said, adding 22 people were still missing.
Workers cleaned up damaged buildings after the deluge while rescuers deployed a thermal drone to help the search, using excavators and their bare hands to try to find survivors in the rivers and rubble.
"For the emergency response, heavy equipment has moved to clean up the disaster areas. And after this, we will go to shelters to ensure affected communities are served well," national disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) chief Suharyanto told reporters Tuesday.
More than 3,300 people have also evacuated from the affected areas, according to authorities.
They warned the death toll could rise further as the search for the dozens missing continued.
The search was urgent as rescuers only had a "golden time" of six days to find survivors, Suharyanto said.
Residents described the terror late Saturday as the floods, bringing along volcanic materials and logs, inundated their neighbourhoods and destroyed their houses.
Dozens of houses were swept away and rescuers said many of the victims were found in or around nearby rivers.
Workers rushed to clear and repair a damaged bridge to ease access to the area.
To aid the rescue effort, authorities said they would deploy weather modification technology that will start to work from Wednesday.
Indonesian officials use the term weather modification technology for cloud seeding, in this case using it in an attempt to make clouds rain earlier in a bid to weaken the rainfall's intensity when it reaches the disaster-struck area. "Efforts were made so these rain clouds would not fall at the location of the disaster," meteorological agency chief Dwikorita Karnawati told reporters. — AFP
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