Rescuers recover more bodies from landslide in Indonesia, with 72 still
missing
[January 26, 2026]
BANDUNG, Indonesia (AP) — Improved weather on Sunday
helped rescuers on Indonesia's main island of Java recover more bodies
as they dug through mud and debris in search of scores of missing in a
landslide that killed more than two dozen villagers.
The predawn landslide on the slopes of Mount Burangrang in West Java
province on Saturday buried some 34 houses in Pasir Langu village. On
Sunday, 72 people remained missing, many feared buried under tons of
mud, rocks and uprooted trees. About 230 residents living near the site
were evacuated to government shelters.
A 250-member search team on Sunday collected victims' remains, including
body parts, in 14 body bags, bringing the total recovered to 25, said
Ade Dian Permana, who heads the local search and rescue office. They
will be released to relatives once they are identified by forensic
experts.
Videos released by the search agency showed rescuers using farm tools
and bare hands to pull a body from the mud. Permana said that loose
ground on the slope prevented heavy equipment from being deployed. He
estimated mounds of mud were to be up to 5 meters (16 feet) high, saying
"our teams must move carefully.”
“Some homes are buried up to the roof level,” he added.
The head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, Mohammad Syafii, said
teams were also using drones and K-9s to locate bodies along the
landslide that stretched more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles).
Visiting the area on Sunday, Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming
Raka pledged that authorities would take measures to prevent similar
disasters. He urged the local authorities in West Bandung district to
"address the issue of land conversion in disaster-prone areas,”
including ways to reduce risks.
Environmental activists previously have said the deadly landslide in
West Bandung district was not simply a natural disaster triggered by
heavy rain, but the result of years of environmental degradation due to
land conversion for development that violated land‑use rules in the
region.
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In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue
Agency (BASARNAS), an aerial shot taken using a drone shows an area
affected by landslides in Pasir Langu village, in West Bandung
district of West Java province, Indonesia, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.
(BASARNAS via AP)
Wahyudin Iwang of Walhi West Java, an Indonesian environmental
group, said Saturday’s landslide — which struck while residents were
asleep — reflected longstanding neglect of spatial‑planning
regulations in the North Bandung Area, or KBU, a conservation zone
spanning about 38,543 hectares across four cities and regencies in
West Java, including West Bandung.
He said the protected highland area functions as a critical
water‑catchment zone and environmental buffer for the Bandung Basin,
one of Indonesia’s most densely populated regions.
“This landslide is the accumulation of activities that were not in
line with spatial planning and environmental functions,” Iwang said.
At a makeshift relief center, villagers gathered, reading updated
lists of the missing and waiting for news on relatives. Rescue
officials said the operation will continue nonstop as long as
conditions allow, but warned that more rain could further
destabilize the slope.
Seasonal rains and high tides from about October to April frequently
cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of more
than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous
areas or near fertile floodplains.
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