Indonesian town buries its dead in mass grave as flood toll rises

BATANG TORU, Indonesia (Reuters) -Families gathered at a health centre in the Indonesian town of Batang Toru on Friday, desperate for news about missing loved ones, as locals dug a mass grave to bury seven unclaimed victims of the cyclonic rains that have battered the country’s western-most island of Sumatra.

The rains caused floods and landslides in three provinces across Sumatra island, killing at least 94 people, according to Indonesia’s disaster agencies. Nearly 80,000 people have been evacuated and about 80 people are still missing.

In Batang Toru, where at least 21 have died, residents lifted seven decomposing bodies, wrapped in black plastic, from the back of a truck onto a wide plot of land belonging to a state plantation firm, while an excavator dumped clumps of dirt to bury them in a mass grave.

“We found 21 bodies that were placed in a health centre … the seven will be buried,” said Mara Tinggi, chief of Batang Toru town, which is located in the worst-hit province of North Sumatra.

There is no morgue to store the bodies to wait for loved ones to arrive, residents told Reuters. Many at the health centre, surrounded by felled trees, had to hold their noses because of the stench of the decomposing bodies.

Indonesian authorities are rushing to respond to the worst rains and floods to hit the region in years. The death toll has risen sharply over the last 24 hours, and officials fear it may increase further.

Road access remains minimal and critical infrastructure, including power and communications, has been severely affected, the disaster mitigation agency said.

The agency said the search for the missing continued on Friday. Authorities were working to restore power and clear roads that have been blocked by landslide debris.

In West Sumatra, over 100 people still remain stranded in their homes, awaiting help and aid, said Ilham Wahab, spokesperson for the local search and rescue agency.

Floods across Southeast Asia, which also hit Thailand and Malaysia, have per Friday killed 183 people.

(Reporting by Yudhistira in Batang Toru; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Gibran Peshimam)