"Until now, personnel from military, police, and the Regional Disaster Mitigation Office (BPBD) of South Nias keep on looking for two more residents reportedly missing," the head of the South Nias BPBD, Arototona Mendeva, said on the phone, Thursday.
The five bodies have not been identified. At least 37 houses, 25 motorcycles and four cars were buried by the landslide.
A flash flood swept away a section of a bridge in Majo Kampung Barije, following heavy rains on Wednesday.
The bridge collapse cut off the route for transportation of relief aid for the victims of the flood, Ahmad Hidayat, the head of the North Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Office, said here on Thursday.
Floods in Majo Kampung Barije Sub district had also triggered the landslide that killed 12 people and caused several others to go missing.
To reach the flood- and landslide-affected villages to deliver relief aid, Search and Rescue (SAR) Agency personnel had to use rubber boats to cross the river and skirt the river bank.
"The flood- and landslide-affected villages were located almost nine kilometers from the collapsed bridge," he said.
Incessant heavy rains over the last three days had caused flash floods and landslides in South Nias.
Parts of the 120-km-long Gunung Sitoli-Teluk highway were also under 30-cm-deep flood waters.
The SAR team delivered medicines, clothes, canned fish, instant noddles, and other needs to the flood victims.
Meanwhile, a landslide buried three houses at Tanjung Mulak village, Pulau Pinang sub district, Lahat District, South Sumatera Province, on Thursday.
(Uu.F001/HAJM/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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