Indonesian marines among 80 missing after deadly landslide in West Java

At least 19 members of Indonesia’s elite marine force are among around 80 people missing after a massive landslide triggered by heavy rain swept through a mountainside village in West Java province over the weekend, officials said on Monday.

The predawn landslide struck Pasir Langu village on the slopes of Mount Burangrang on Saturday, burying a marine training camp and at least 34 houses under deep mud, rocks and uprooted trees. The disaster has so far claimed 17 lives, officials said.

National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said 11 of the deceased have been identified, while six others are undergoing identification.

Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Muhammad Ali said four marines were among those confirmed dead. They were part of a 23-member unit undergoing training in rugged terrain ahead of a long-duration deployment near the Indonesia–Papua New Guinea border. The remaining marines from the unit are still unaccounted for.

“Heavy rainfall over two consecutive nights triggered the slope failure that buried the training area,” Ali told reporters, adding that rescue efforts have been hampered by unstable ground and narrow access roads.

The search operation has been scaled up significantly, with personnel strength increasing from around 500 to more than 2,100 rescuers. Teams are using excavators, drones, water pumps and manual digging to search through debris spread across a stretch of more than two kilometres, officials said.

National Search and Rescue Agency operation director Yudhi Bramantyo said in some areas, mud deposits were as deep as eight metres, complicating rescue efforts and raising fears about the survival chances of those still missing.

Around 230 residents from nearby areas have been evacuated to temporary government shelters as a precaution, authorities said.

Indonesia, an archipelago of over 17,000 islands, frequently experiences landslides and flooding during the rainy season between October and April, particularly in mountainous regions and densely populated river basins.

Rescue operations are continuing, with authorities warning that weather conditions and terrain instability remain major challenges.