"No victim was buried in the new landslide because we stopped search efforts after rain fell," said Garut Military Region 0611 Commander Lieutenant Colonel Czi Dian Hendriana.
The new landslide occurred following heavy rain that eroded soil in the hill and uprooted trees.
He said several members of the joint rescue team had stopped the search before the landslide occurred.
Dian admitted the search and rescue efforts in the state forestry area in the Sukakarya village had been hampered by many obstacles.
The disaster location which is in a hilly area and bad weather, including fog and heavy rain also threatened the safety of the joint rescue team.
"Bad weather including heavy rain and fog hampered our efforts to search bodies of the victims and endangered our safety," Dian said.
He added the bulldozer deployed to help in the search efforts had also slipped into a ravine but the operator was able to jump out of the vehicle to avoid injury.
Fortunately, the bulldozer had been blocked by excavator and so it did not slip further into the bottom of the ravine.
"We have closed the disaster location for civilians to avoid possible other casualties and victims because the area is dangerous," Hendriana said.
The search effort in the third day could not as yet discover the three buried victims namely Elah, Enoh and Juhaena.
The Garut Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has imposed an emergency response period lasting in seven days since the disaster occurred.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
