JEMBER (Indonesia), Jan 3: Rescuers on Tuesday combed through debris and mud for victims of flash floods that inundated villages in Indonesia’s East Java as the death toll rose to 57, officials said.

Thousands sought shelter, medical care and food in the wake of the disaster, which environmentalists have blamed on rampant illegal logging on the island of Java, one of the world’s most densely-populated.

Local police officer Agus Ilham said the hunt for more victims after the floods, which swept away hundreds of homes in Jember district, 800 kilometres east of the capital, continued in poor weather.

Rescue efforts were also hampered by transport difficulties, he told AFP.

Erman Harjoprayitno, from the disaster coordinating agency in the city of Surabaya, said the toll stood at 57 dead and 50 injured.

“The injured have been taken to local clinics and hospitals,” he said.

The floods followed two days of monsoon rains which caused a river to swell and burst its banks.

A local journalist, Budi Sugiharto, said the scene in the flooded zone was reminiscent of the December 2004 tsunami that devastated Indonesia’s Aceh province on Sumatra island.

Some 168,000 Acehnese were killed in the catastrophe.

“The devastation in areas near the river banks reminds me of the destruction caused by the tsunami. Houses were flattened, with only the foundations remaining,” he told AFP.

He said rescuers working only with hand tools had built emergency bridges to provide access to isolated areas in the hills and move villagers to safer areas. Children clung to soldiers as they were removed from the affected zones.

Teduh Tedjo, who coordinated the police relief team, said most survivors from isolated areas had been moved to shelter by late afternoon, bringing the number of refugees in schools, mosques and government buildings to 5,000.

“There is still a group of 19 villagers who are trapped. We are sending people to give them food,” he said.—AFP