Landslides, floods kill 87 in Indonesia

SINJAI REGENCY, Indonesia, June 21 (Reuters) Landslides and floods on Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island have killed 87 people and the toll could rise further, officials today said.

A search-and-rescue operation was under way after two days of heavy rain in several parts of South Sulawesi province.

Sinjai regency was the worst-hit area after flooding early yesterday, rescuers and police said.

''Excavations for those who were buried are still in progress,'' a Reuters witness in Sinjai said, adding that the military, police, and search and rescue teams had reached the area.

''The total death toll is 87, and 12 people are still missing. Sinjai has the most dead people, 77,'' Moersen Buana of the disaster task force said by telephone from the provincial capital, Makassar, about 1,400 km east of Jakarta.

Saktianto, a search-and-rescue official in Makassar, said many people were feared buried under mud in areas rescuers could only reach by foot.

''The flash flood has receded, leaving mud and damaged houses. Many houses were severely damaged and have become ruins,'' the Reuters witness said.

Torrential rains and landslides are regular features of tropical Indonesia. Rampant deforestation often adds to the ease with which hillsides are saturated and collapse, environmentalists say.

The central government had sent blankets, medicines and sarongs for the affected people of Sulawesi, Social Minister Bachtiar Chamsah told reporters in Jakarta.

He said he had instructed ministry officials at the disaster sites to evacuate people to safe areas.

Health minister Siti Fadilah Supari said her ministry had sent medicine, biscuits and 200 body bags.

REUTERS SY DS1340