Indonesian police are questioning six people after a stone quarry collapsed in West Java, killing at least 14 people.
The Gunung Kuda quarry in the province of West Java gave way yesterday, crushing more than 20 people.
Twelve injured people were rescued and 10 bodies were recovered from the debris during search efforts on Friday.
Rescuers then retrieved three more bodies later that day, while another worker died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 14, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.
Pic: Andrea Ramadhan/Reuters
Pic Andrea Ramadhan/Reuters
Five more people are being treated in hospital with serious injuries.
But six to eight others are thought to be still trapped under the rubble and the search continues.
Local television showed emergency personnel, police, soldiers and volunteers desperately digging through the debris at the foot of a steep limestone cliff on Saturday.
Other footage captured excavators trying to shift huge rocks and workers placing body bags in an ambulance.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the collapse, and are questioning the quarry owner along with five other people, local police chief Sumarni said.
Illegal or informal mines are common in Indonesia, and bring the risk of landslides, flooding and tunnel collapses.
Pic: BASARNAS/AP
On Friday, West Java governor Dedi Mulyadi said he had ordered the closure of this quarry, as well as four other similar sites in the province.
Last year, a landslide triggered by torrential rains wiped out an unauthorised gold mining operation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing at least 15 people.
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The country was hit by several other major landslides in 2024.
