Indonesia's Race Against Time: Rescuers Battle Mud and Debris to Find Missing Miners

Indonesia has launched a large-scale rescue operation involving a helicopter and hundreds of rescuers in search of 35 people missing after a devastating landslide at an illegal gold mine in Sulawesi. Torrential rains caused the disaster, killing at least 23 people and hampering rescue efforts with thick mud.

Indonesia initiated a massive rescue operation on Tuesday, utilizing a helicopter and mobilizing hundreds of rescuers to locate 35 people still missing after a landslide devastated an illegal gold mine in Sulawesi, as reported by the search and rescue agency.

The disaster, triggered by torrential rains on Sunday, swallowed miners and residents in Suwawa district, Gorontalo province, more than 2,000 km east of the capital, Jakarta. Around 400 individuals, with assistance from a helicopter, resumed the rescue efforts temporarily paused due to heavy rain on Monday, according to Salama, a search agency official.

Rescue teams have so far saved 66 survivors from the wreckage, despite facing obstacles like thick mud that required some rescuers to walk over 20 km to reach the site. Nopri, a miner, recounted to MetroTV that he spent about eight hours buried under a metre of debris, surviving by breathing through gaps in the debris and rationing remaining water while waiting for rescue.

Landslides are common in Indonesia, exacerbated by deforestation and unregulated illegal mining in remote areas. Earlier on Tuesday, the death toll was reported at 17, with 45 missing. Past incidents include flash floods and mudslides in West Sumatra in May which killed more than 50 people, and an April landslide in South Sulawesi that claimed 18 lives.

(With inputs from agencies.)