Indonesia searches for missing after landfill collapse kills four

Bantargebang, covering around 110ha, is Indonesia's biggest landfill site. Read more at straitstimes.com.

JAKARTA - Rescuers are still searching for five missing people after a large stack of garbage collapsed at Indonesia’s biggest landfill site over the weekend, killing at least four people, an official said on March 9.

The collapse took place at the Bantargebang landfill on March 8, located in the region of Bekasi on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, said Ms Desiana Kartika Bahari, head of the local rescue agency.

It was likely triggered by the heavy rain that hit the area from the evening of March 7, she told Reuters.

“It was raining all day even from (March 7) evening and the mountain of garbage was unstable,” Ms Desiana said.

Some trucks were unloading garbage when the collapse took place, and there was also a food stall near the site.

“The missing people are the truck drivers and scavengers,” she said, adding that there there could be more people buried in the landfill.