"There are 23 Marines buried in the landslide. Currently, only four have been found dead, and the others are still missing," he spoke to the media at the Parliament Complex in Central Jakarta on Monday.
According to him, those Marines were stationed at the location to conduct training in preparation for securing the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
During the training, the location coincidentally experienced two days of rain.
"That may have caused the landslide, which affected residents of a village, and coincidentally, our soldiers were training there," he said.
Ali said the Indonesian Navy is currently searching for their men affected by the landslide in Cisarua.
He has deployed heavy equipment and drones to expedite the evacuation process.
A landslide occurred in Pasirlangu Village, Cisarua Sub-district, West Bandung District early on Saturday (January 24), triggered by prolonged heavy rain that caused soil and mud to shift, covering residential areas.
To date, the joint Search and Rescue (SAR) team has recovered 29 bodies from the landslide and handed them over to the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team.
The West Bandung District Government has declared a Disaster Emergency Response status through Decree Number 100.3.3.2/Kep.25-BPBD/2026, effective from January 24 to February 6, 2026.
Meanwhile, a joint SAR team consisting of the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI), the National Police, the Social Services Agency, Disaster Preparedness Cadet (Tagana), and other relevant agencies are continuing the search for missing victims and mitigating the impact of the disaster at the scene.
In addition, some 12 K-9 search dogs from the national police and the Semarang search and rescue office were deployed on Monday to help locate victims buried beneath the sediment.
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Translator: Walda Marison, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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