The final death toll from a landslide that occurred on Saturday, April 13, in Celebes province, central Indonesia, stands at 20, authorities said Tuesday, putting an end to the victim search operations. In recent hours, emergency services discovered the bodies of a 43-year-old mother and her 3-year-old child.
“The search and rescue team discovered [the victims] not far from each other. The victims were a mother and her child,” confirmed the head of the local search and rescue agency, Mexianus Bekabel, in a statement.
Heavy rainfall caused landslides in two villages in Tana Toraja district, South Sulawesi province.
Events worsened by deforestation
These heavy rains eroded the soil in residential areas located on the mountainside, causing landslides, which buried residents’ homes.
Indonesia experiences many landslides during the rainy season and the phenomenon has been worsened in some places by deforestation. In early March, flash floods and landslides on the island of Sumatra killed at least 30 people and dozens more remain missing.
