Indonesian rescuers have called off the search for victims of a landslide at the country’s largest open landfill after pulling seven bodies out from under debris, an official said Tuesday.
Rescuers recovered three bodies on Sunday and four more on Monday, Jakarta search and rescue agency head Desiana Kartika Bahari said in a statement.
Six people were also rescued alive after the collapse Sunday afternoon at Bantargebang, a landfill just 25 kilometres (16 miles) outside the capital, that buried trucks and food stalls.
Rescuers used backhoes, tracking dogs and thermal drones to search for victims, she said. Everyone has now been accounted for.
The collapse happened after hours of heavy rain in the area, local media reported.
To reduce rain intensity, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) announced it would conduct a “weather modification operation,” which typically involves using helicopters to “seed” clouds with sodium chloride to encourage premature rainfall over the sea rather than over the capital.
Jakarta and its satellite cities, collectively known as Jabodetabek, are home to about 42 million people and generate an estimated 14,000 tonnes of waste daily.
Bantargebang, one of the world’s largest open landfills, spans more than 110 hectares and contains approximately 55 million tonnes of trash, according to a local environment agency official.
President Prabowo Subianto said last month that most of Indonesia’s landfills, which are being gradually phased out, would exceed their capacity by 2028.
The government will invest $3.5 billion in a project to build 34 waste-to-energy sites within two years that would incinerate garbage to produce electricity, he said.
A landfill landslide killed 143 people in West Java in 2005, triggered by a methane gas explosion and heavy rain in the area.
