At least 10 people have been killed after they were swept up in a terrifying landslide at a quarry mine.
The tragedy unfolded in West Java, Indonesia, per the country’s national disaster management agency.
The landslide happened at around 10am on Friday near Cirebon, which is about 135 miles east of the capital Jakarta, The New York Times reported.
All of the casualties were quarry workers, according to the disaster agency, which also reported six other people being injured. All of them are being treated at local hospitals.
Footage of the incident showed the entire side of a mountain collapsing at once, sending an unimaginable amount of dirt and rock flooding toward the base of the steep incline.
Workers far enough away from the tragedy were seen getting into their vehicles and driving away with haste.
Indonesian news network Kompas TV captured images of of excavators digging around in the rubble looking for survivors.
Ultimately, the search was called off at around 5pm because it got too dark and authorities were afraid of triggering more landslides, according to Mukhammad Yusron, the commander of the region’s military district.
At least 10 people have been killed after they were swept up in a terrifying landslide at a quarry mine
The landslide happened within seconds, giving workers on the mountain virtually no time to react before they were buried
Indonesian news network Kompas TV captured images of of excavators digging around in the rubble looking for survivors
Yusron told the Antara news agency that searches will continue on Saturday.
As for what caused this landslide, Bambang Tirto Mulyono, the head of the West Java department of energy and mineral resources, has come out and blamed improper mining methods.
Mulyono told Detik Jabar, a local news site, that workers were mining from the bottom of the hill up, instead of from the top down.
‘We have repeatedly warned the mining operator, even in strong terms,’ he said, adding that Cirebon police roped off the site since February because the mining methods did not meet safety standards.
Mulyono also advised the Governor of West Java to temporarily close the area so an environmental audit can be done.
This kind of audit would determine if the mine was operating illegally, and if it was, it could be shut down permanently.
