18 dead as a result of landslides in central Indonesia

Eighteen people were killed, two were injured and two others were reported missing in landslides in central Indonesia's South Sulawesi province late Saturday, an official from the local disaster management agency said on Sunday.

Landslides triggered by torrential rains occurred in the two sub-districts of the Tana Toraja administrative division, Makale and South Makale, destroying several houses and burying residents under the rubble, said the director of the operational unit of the Agency for Disaster Management and Prevention at provincial level, Amson Padolo.

The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, while rescue teams searched for two more missing residents, the official adding that rescuers needed heavy equipment to clear the affected roads. .