Death toll of Indonesia's flash floods rises to 14, 7 missing

Fourteen bodies have been recovered and seven people are still missing after flash floods struck a tourist resort in Deli Serdang district of North Sumatra province, top official of local disaster agency said on Monday.

Head of provincial disaster management agency, Saleh Ridwan Siregar, said six people suffered from injury.

"We have recovered 15 persons, one of them still alive, but the rest are dead," he told Xinhua by phone from the province.

"Search for the missing is halted this evening and we will resume it tomorrow (Tuesday)," he added.

The flash floods affected 78 people and 56 of them survived, Siregar said.

All of the casualties and the missing are university students, and two of the affected persons are tour guides, he added.

The disaster occurred on Sunday afternoon when the affected persons were visiting a waterfall at Durin Sirugun village, said Darwin Surbakti, secretary of disaster agency at Deli Serdang district.

"Suddenly flash floods hit the location and swept away all of them," he told Xinhua by phone.

Heavy downpours at the mountainous areas near the location had sent a huge amount of water to the resort, he said.

No damage of properties was reported after the natural disaster, the official said.

The search and rescue operation involved soldiers, police, rescuers from local search and rescue office, according to him.
 [Xinhua - globaltimes.cn]
17/5/16
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