Landslide kills 4 in Indonesia's Gorontalo

Four were killed and three other remained missing in the landslide caused by flood in Indonesia's province of Gorontalo, a senior official from Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said Saturday. The landslide occurred Friday night, hitting at least three villages in Bone Pantai and Bulawa districts following torrential rains in the areas. The massive rains made the Tongo river that lines across those villages spilled over and submerged those three villages, eventually prompting landslide in the affected areas. "The mountainous topography in the affected areas makes them prone to landslide. The killed victims came from a family. Efforts to search for the remaining three missing were still underway. More than 200 people sought refugee from the disasters," BNPB Spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Xinhua by phone. He said that the search efforts by volunteers, military and police personnel were focusing in Ombulo village in Bone Pantai district. He added that as of now the flood has yet to recede. The affected areas were still inundated by the flood up to 1 meter high. The disasters damaged houses in the three villages and a bridge collapse cut the transportation from the affected areas to the provincial road of Trans Sulawesi.