Emergency crews in Indonesia continue their desperate search for five people still unaccounted for following a deadly collapse at the country’s largest waste disposal facility that claimed four lives over the weekend.
The tragic incident occurred Sunday at the Bantargebang waste management site, situated in Bekasi on Jakarta’s outskirts, according to Desiana Kartika Bahari, who leads the regional rescue operations.
Officials believe continuous rainfall beginning Saturday night caused the disaster when an enormous mound of refuse became unstable and gave way.
“It was raining all day even from (Saturday) evening and the mountain of garbage was unstable,” Bahari explained to reporters.
The collapse happened while garbage trucks were actively dumping loads at the site, and a nearby food vendor was also operating in the area.
“The missing people are the truck drivers and scavengers,” Bahari noted, warning that additional victims might remain trapped beneath the debris.
Four individuals managed to survive the catastrophe.
Since Monday morning, more than 200 emergency personnel have joined the rescue effort, including law enforcement officers and military troops, supported by 17 excavation machines working to locate the missing victims.
The Bantargebang facility spans approximately 110 hectares and processes between 6,500 and 7,000 tons of waste daily from the surrounding metropolitan area.
