Indonesia rubbish tip death toll rises to 33

Rescuers continued digging today through mountains of debris after a rubbish tip collapsed, killing 33 people in central Indonesia, with least 70 others were still missing and feared dead.

Police spokesman Lt Suwaji said the massive rubbish and mud slide early yesterday was caused by torrential rains that hit the region around the West Java town of Bandung in previous days.

He said 29 bodies had been pulled out of the debris yesterday and four others were uncovered later. But the 30ft high pile of rubbish had covered dozens of nearby homes, and authorities said that about 70 residents were still unaccounted for.

Scavengers eke out a living by sorting through the refuse and reselling recyclable items from municipal dumps throughout Indonesia.

Suwaji, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said rescuers had failed to pull any survivors from the debris after finding six injured people yesterday.

Bandung is about 110 miles south east of Jakarta. The dump at the nearby village of Leuwigajah is main municipal trash disposal site.

Rampant deforestation and a lengthy rainy season cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia. Hundreds of people are killed in such disasters.