Jakarta (dpa) - Rescue workers resumed their search Thursday for missing villagers after landslides triggered by flash floods swept through the eastern Indonesian island of Flores claiming at least 23 lives and leaving dozens missing, officials said.
The floods, triggered by three days of incessant rains, swept away more than 100 houses in villages situated on the eastern coast of Flores and on nearby Besar Island, said Iskandar Mberu, secretary of the district administration of Ende, 1,660 kilometres east of Jakarta.
By Thursday morning, 23 people were confirmed dead - 11 in Ende district, nine in East Flores district and three others in Sikka district of Besar - with another 22 residents still listed as missing and presumed dead.
"Rescue workers this morning resumed their search for the missing persons who were swept away by the mudslides and floods,'' Mberu said.
Mberu said land communications from Ende district into town had been cut off for the past three days but weather had improved, allowing the local airport to resume operation.
Another 21 villagers were seriously injured and 76 others suffered slight wounds. The floods destroyed more than 100 homes and damaged 400 others, local government officials said.
Marcel Tupenmasen, spokesman of East Nusa Tenggara province, said the floods swept through several districts in the province, including the provincial capital of Kupang.
Tupenmasen said the flooding in Kupang and other district areas caused no casualties but dozens of homes were damaged while hundreds of others were inundated with water up to two-meters high.
dpa sh pj blg AP-NY-04-02-03 2352EST
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