Indonesian authorities have confirmed that 23 soldiers were killed in last weekend's landslide in West Java, revising earlier casualty figures that initially put the death toll at at least 17. The disaster struck Pasir Langu village in the Bandung Barat region after days of heavy rainfall triggered a collapse in the surrounding hills.
The Indonesian navy said the marines were taking part in training exercises related to border patrol operations when they were trapped by the landslide. Officials said the extreme weather conditions made immediate rescue impossible, delaying full access to the site and complicating efforts to assess the scale of the losses.
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Beyond the confirmed military deaths, search operations are still under way for civilians missing in the area. Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency has reported dozens of people unaccounted for, with hundreds of residents evacuated from nearby homes as a precaution against further landslides.
More than 800 rescuers, including military, police and emergency personnel, have been deployed, supported by heavy equipment. However, unstable terrain and ongoing rainfall continue to slow recovery efforts, forcing teams to rely on manual searches in some locations...