At least 17 people remain missing after heavy rains washed mud and cold lava down the slopes of Mount Marapi.
At least 41 people were confirmed dead after hours of torrential rain that triggered flash flooding and cold lava flows from a volcano in western Indonesia over the weekend.
A local disaster official told AFP news agency that another 17 people remained missing after Saturday night’s torrential rain swept ash and large rocks down Mount Marapi, the most active volcano on the island of Sumatra.
Three people are missing in Agam district and 14 in Tanah Datar, both areas hardest hit by floods and home to hundreds of thousands of people, Ilham Wahab, an official with the West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency, told AFP.
Around 400 people, including police, soldiers and local rescue teams, were mobilized to search for the missing, using at least eight excavators and drones.
Marapi erupted in December, killing more than 20 people.
Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material such as ash, sand and pebbles carried down the slopes of a volcano by rain.
The rain turned roads into muddy rivers, swept away vehicles and damaged homes and other buildings.
Road damage hampered rescue efforts.
Indonesia is prone to landslides and flooding during the rainy season.
In 2022, around 24,000 people were evacuated and two children died in floods on the island of Sumatra, with environmental activists blaming deforestation caused by logging for worsening the disaster.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
