Ten bodies recovered after flash floods hit Indonesian villages

Rescuers clear up rubble from damaged houses at a neighbourhood affected by a landslide in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia (Rangga Firmansyah/AP)

Indonesian rescuers recovered 10 bodies that were swept away in flash floods or buried under tons of mud and rocks that hit hilly villages on the country’s main island of Java, officials said on Monday.

Torrential rains since last week have caused rivers to burst their banks, tearing through more than 170 villages in Sukabumi district of West Java province, as mud, rocks and trees tumbled down mountainside hamlets, said Lieutenant Colonel Yudi Hariyanto, who heads a rescue command post in the district.