Indonesian authorities will continue to search for eight people trapped in a rock collapse in a quarry in Western Java, where the death toll has reached 17 with six injured, said Basarnas Search and Rescue Agency.
The toll, as reported by the families of the victims, is provisional, said the agency in a statement on Saturday night.
Friday’s collapse site in Cirebon is dangerous and “does not meet the safety standards for workers,” published the governor of Western Java Dedi Mulyadi on Instagram.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said in a statement that it would investigate the cause of collapse and perform an evaluation to identify any potential for landslides.
The regency of Cireban is prone to the movement of the soil, especially when the precipitation is above normal, while the collapse area has a slope of the cliff, said the head of the Geological Agency of the Ministry, Muhammad Wafid, in the statement.
Wafid said the reduction method used in the open mining area and the pronounced slope may also have played a role in the collapse.
“While making the evacuation and search efforts, (rescuers) must pay attention to the climate and the steep slopes, and not carry out activities during and after heavy rains, because this area still has the potential of other landslides that could hit or bury the officers,” Wafid said.
