Indonesian authorities will continue searching on Sunday for eight people trapped in a rock collapse at a quarry in West Java, where the death toll has reached 17 with six injured, the search and rescue agency Basarnas said.

The toll, as reported by the victims’ families, is provisional, the agency said in a statement late on Saturday.

The site of Friday’s collapse in Cirebon is dangerous and “does not meet safety standards for workers”, West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi posted on Instagram.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said in a statement it would investigate the cause of the collapse and conduct an assessment to identify any potential further landslides.

Cirebon Regency is prone to soil movement, especially when precipitation is above normal, while the area of the collapse has a cliff slope, the chief of the ministry’s geological agency, Muhammad Wafid, said in the statement.

Wafid said the undercutting method used in the open mining area and the steep slope may also have played a role in the collapse.

“While carrying out evacuation and search efforts, (rescuers) must pay attention to the weather and steep slopes, and not carry out activities during and after heavy rain, because this area still has the potential for further landslides that could hit or bury officers,” Wafid said.

Source: Reuters
--Agencies