17 dead, nearly 100 missing in Indonesian landslide: Official

Torrential downpours triggered a landslide on Indonesia's main island of Java, killing at least 17 people and leaving nearly 100 others missing, with persistent rain hampering rescue efforts, officials said Dec. 13.
 
Hundreds of rescuers were digging with shovels through mud and rubble after the landslide buried scores of houses in Jemblung village in central Java late Dec. 12, the national disaster agency said.

The landslide swept down a hillside in the village, sparing only two houses, an AFP correspondent said.

"The rescue team have found 17 bodies," the national disaster agency's spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, told AFP, adding that 11 others were badly injured and rescuers were searching for 91 people still missing.
 
The disaster agency said that 200 rescuers and 500 volunteers had joined the search for the missing.
 
Heavy excavation equipment was also imported into the area to speed up the rescue work, which had to be halted on Dec. 13 afternoon as fresh downpours sparked fears of more landslides.
 
Eyewitnesses said they heard a "thundering sound" as the ground shook when the landslide came crashing down and buried the tiny village. 
 
"I ran carrying my daughter to higher ground, and I was crying because I could hear people calling out for help from below," Bini, who like many Indonesians goes by one name said. Her husband and 14-year-old son are still missing.
 
"It took just five minutes before soil and trees suddenly covered the village," another survivor, Harno, said.
 
Rescue efforts have been slow because the ground was still unstable. Thousands of curios bystanders have also caused traffic jams, hampering operations.
 
Bad phone signal in the area have...