Landslide buries over two dozen people, hit 30 houses in central Indonesia

Ponorogo: More than two dozen people have been reported missing after a rain-triggered landslide struck a village in Indonesia's main Java island.

The spokesman for Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the landslide hit up to 30 houses and farmers harvesting ginger today morning under a hillside in Banaran village in Ponorogo district in East Java province.

The latest report from the local mitigation agency said 27 people were buried while a local army chief put the missing at 38 based on reports from villagers.

Disaster agency rescuers, soldiers, police officers and volunteers were searching for the missing, Nugroho said. Seasonal rains cause frequent floods in Indonesia.

Many of the country's 256 million people live in mountainous areas or fertile, flood-prone plains near rivers.