JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesian authorities said on Tuesday that 15 people, mostly children, were killed after being swept away while crossing a river in the easternmost Papua region, while the search for eight children missing in another flood-hit village was ongoing.
The incident took place on Saturday in the remote village of Dal in the Nduga region, where heavy rain caused the river to swell, and swept away 15 people, aged between eight and 17, local police chief Alfredo Agustinus Rumbiak said.
He added that one body had been recovered and authorities were still searching for the others.
Police are still searching for eight children who were washed away on the same day in a similar incident in a nearby village.
The children were crossing a different river with their parents when the rising waters pulled them away, Rumbiak said, adding the search has been hampered by the mountainous terrain.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency has warned residents to be prepared for more floods with more heavy rain expected in several areas of Papua.
Rumbiak said the search was made more challenging by the Nduga region’s “red zone” or conflict area status.
Papuan separatists have fought for independence in the resource-rich region ever since the area was controversially brought under Indonesian control following Dutch rule in a vote overseen by the United Nations in 1969.
The first location of the landslide was where a separatist group killed dozens of workers who were building a bridge in 2018.
A New Zealand pilot was also kidnapped in Nduga in 2023 before being released 19 months later.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia)
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