At least 10 people have been killed in a landslide at a quarry mine in West Java, Indonesia, according to the country’s national disaster management agency.
The landslide occurred around 10 a.m. on Friday near the city of Cirebon, which is about 135 miles east of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital. All of those killed were quarry workers, according to the agency. Six others were injured and being treated at local hospitals.
A news network, Kompas TV, broadcast images of the aftermath, showing excavators digging through the rubble as officials searched for survivors at the base of a steep hill.
The search for additional victims was halted around 5 p.m. because of darkness and the risk of more landslides, Mukhammad Yusron, the commander of the region’s military district, told the Antara news agency. He said search efforts would resume on Saturday.
Bambang Tirto Mulyono, the head of the West Java department of energy and mineral resources, told Detik Jabar, a local news site, that the landslide was caused by improper mining methods — mining from the bottom of the hill up, instead of from the top down.
“We have repeatedly warned the mining operator, even in strong terms,” he said.
Indonesia is prone to landslides during seasonal rains that typically occur from October to April.
Last month, 10 people were killed after a landslide hit vehicles on Java, the country’s main island, and 25 people were killed in another landslide there in January.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,500 islands with a population of more than 280 million people, was once covered by vast rainforests. But many of those forests have been cut down in the last 50 years to make way for palm plantations and farmland.
Deforestation and illegal small-scale gold mining operations have also contributed to unstable soil conditions in the country. In November, 24 people died at an unauthorized gold mining area on Sulawesi island after a landslide.
Jonathan Wolfe is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news.
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