STORY: A rescue team leader said at least 13 people have been killed and six were missing on Sunday (August 25) in in Ternate, in Indonesia’s North Maluku province, after floods hit the east of the sprawling archipelago, damaging homes and burying people in mud.
Using excavators the search and rescue workers dug out several bodies from the mud in the early hours of the morning.
The country’s disaster management agency BNPB said the floods were caused by heavy rain since Saturday and warned residents to remain vigilant citing forecasts of more heavy rain to come in the next few days.
BNPB said it has deployed a team to help evacuate the victims. Search and rescue agency Basarnas also said that efforts to evacuate victims, who were hit by landslides and debris swept along by floodwaters, were ongoing.
In May, flash floods and mudslides in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province killed more than 60 people.
