Rescuers searched for survivors through unstable heaps of waste on Monday after a massive garbage landslide at Indonesia’s largest landfill killed at least five people.
Heavy rainfall on Sunday triggered a massive avalanche of garbage at the Bantargebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java, just outside Jakarta, authorities said on Monday.
Many workers were at Indonesia’s largest landfill site and several trucks were unloading garbage when the collapse occurred at 2.30pm on Sunday, officials said.
Another four people are feared missing and a search and rescue operation has been launched, with more than 300 personnel using heavy machinery and sniffer dogs to locate those still trapped under the mound of waste, said Desiana Kartika Bahari, head of Jakarta’s Search and Rescue Office.
Rescuers were working cautiously amid unstable heaps of waste and rain, she said.
She said the victims included two bin lorry drivers and two food stall vendors who had been working or resting near the landfill. Four other people managed to escape.
“It was raining all day, even from Saturday evening, and the mountain of garbage was unstable,” Ms Bahari said.
“The missing people are truck drivers and scavengers,” she added.
Rescuers, including police, soldiers and volunteers, were still searching for those reported missing.
“We have not ruled out the possibility of more victims,” she said. “We are still gathering data to confirm how many vehicles and workers were caught beneath the debris.”
Indonesia’s environment minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said the landfill is “the tip of the iceberg” of Jakarta’s failed waste management system, which has accumulated around 55 million tonnes of rubbish over the past 37 years.
“We must address the root of Jakarta’s waste problem so there are no more victims,” local media quoted him as saying after he inspected the landslide site on Monday.
He said the deadly incident should serve as a warning to the Jakarta Provincial Government to immediately end open dumping, a waste disposal practice that continues to threaten the safety of residents and workers.
Officials said they have launched an investigation and will pursue strict law enforcement to ensure the capital’s long-running waste problem does not claim more lives.
According to the minister, the continued use of open dumping at Bantargebang landfill violates a 2008 ban on open landfill.
He warned that open dumping not only increases the risk of further landslides but also contributes to severe environmental pollution.
“This incident should not have happened if waste management had followed regulations,” he said, adding that Bantargebang must serve as a lesson to improve safety and protect the environment.
The massive open dump, which handles most of the waste from the Jakarta metropolitan area, has long been an eyesore for residents and a challenge for successive governments.
Bantargebang, one of the world’s largest open landfills, spans about 110–120 hectares – roughly the size of more than 200 football fields – and receives between 6,500 and 8,000 tonnes of waste daily, according to a local environment agency official.
The site holds up to 55 million tonnes of trash, with compacted garbage forming “mountains” that rise up to 50 metres high in some areas.
Last month, Prabowo Subianto said the government would invest $3.5bn to build 34 waste-to-energy plants within two years to incinerate garbage and generate electricity.
He warned that most of Indonesia’s landfills could exceed their capacity by 2028.
A landfill in West Java claimed 143 lives in 2005 after an explosion triggered by methane gas and heavy rain.
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