Floods and landslides in Indonesia kill at least 20 people, and there are fears more victims could be discovered in the rubble.

Jakarta — Rescuers in western Indonesia used heavy equipment Tuesday to extricate themselves from weekend floods and landslides that killed at least 20 people, the national disaster agency said. In North Sumatra, the bodies of five missing people were pulled from a mountain of mud and debris, agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement.

“All the victims were found dead,” he said on Tuesday, adding that a total of 10 people were killed in a landslide in Karo district.

Heavy rains hit four districts of North Sumatra on Saturday, causing deadly floods and landslides.

Juspri Nadeak, disaster official in the hardest-hit Karo district, said the discovery of victims not yet reported missing to authorities remained a possibility.

“The landslide area provides access to hot springs, so it is possible that tourists could be affected,” he told AFP on Tuesday. “We continue to clean up mud and debris from the landslide while anticipating the possibility of discovering additional victims.”

In a village in Deli Serdang district, where four people were found dead and two others missing, piles of mud, logs and stones were scattered around the village where a rescue operation was underway.

“The electricity has been cut off and there is no cell phone reception, which makes communication difficult for us rescuers,” Iman Sitorus, spokesperson for the local agency, told AFP. search and rescue.

Authorities also deployed heavy equipment to clean up the debris, he said.

The death toll rose to 20 on Tuesday following the discovery of five bodies in Karo district. The other victims were found in South Tapanuli, Padang Lawas and Deli Serdang districts.

Indonesia has recently suffered a series of extreme weather events, which experts say are made more likely, more severe and less predictable by climate change.

In May, at least 67 people died after a mixture of ash, sand and stones from the eruption of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra was swept into residential areas. causing flash floods.

Human-caused climate change has doubled the likelihood of severe storms like the one that hit Indonesia this week and the one that transformed the streets of Spain’s eastern region. Valencia in raging rivers earlier this month, according to a partial analysis released Oct. 31 by the World Weather Attribution group, made up of dozens of international scientists who study the role of global warming in extreme weather conditions.