Around 35 foreign and domestic tourists are believed to be trapped and two others died after landslides hit a waterfall site on Indonesia’s tourist island of Lombok.
According to a report on Business Times, two moderate earthquakes struck the island, which then triggered the landslides. At the same time, around 40 Malaysian and domestic tourists were visiting the Tiu Kelep waterfall, located north of the island. As of Sunday, search and rescue efforts have only managed to evacuate three of the 40 trapped tourists. "We hope they all survive. We cannot be sure yet, the evacuation is still underway," Muhammad Rum, head of West Nusa Tenggara disaster agency said.
This particular region seems particularly disaster prone as of late. A series of quakes and aftershocks killed nearly 500 people in Lombok last year and caused damages to buildings and public infrastructure worth an estimated total of US$500 million. In a separate incident, flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 58, injured dozens and displaced more than 4,000, according to local authorities.