March 04, 2007	Sunday	Safar 14, 1428

JAKARTA: Landslides triggered by days of heavy rain killed at least 40 people on an eastern Indonesian island on Saturday and scores more were believed to be buried under the mud, officials said.

Authorities on Flores battled blocked roads to deliver emergency aid to affected districts and help dig for survivors, said Rustam Pakaya, the chief of the Health Department’s Crisis Center in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.

“We have not been able to get heavy machinery to the villages, because landslides have also cut off the main road to the area,” he said, adding that downed telephone lines were also hindering the relief effort. “Many parts of the road also have collapsed.”

Lt-Col Ginting Santoso, a police chief in the affected area on Flores island, told Metro TV that as of late on Saturday 40 bodies had been recovered from two landslides, and that rescuers were searching for at least 29 other people believed to be buried. Other agencies gave slightly different figures on the number of dead and missing, a common occurrence during natural disasters in Indonesia.—AP