A landslide at Indonesia’s largest landfill buried trucks and food stalls on Sunday, killing four people, while rescuers continued searching for at least five more reported missing, authorities said Monday.
The collapse occurred at 2:30 pm local time (0730 GMT) at the Bantargebang landfill, located about 25 kilometres from the capital, Jakarta, according to the national search and rescue agency.
“Rescuers are using heavy machinery such as backhoes and deploying tracking dogs to locate victims,” the agency said in a statement.
Local media reported that the landslide followed hours of heavy rainfall in the area. Bantargebang, one of the world’s largest open landfills, spans over 110 hectares and contains roughly 55 million tonnes of trash.
Jakarta and its surrounding satellite cities, collectively known as Jabodetabek, are home to approximately 42 million people and generate an estimated 14,000 tonnes of waste daily.
Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq blamed local authorities for failing to manage the landfill, noting that open landfills have been banned since 2008. “Bantargebang belongs to the Jakarta administration, so they have to take responsibility,” he told Kompas TV while visiting the disaster site. “This incident must serve as a bitter lesson so that Jakarta can implement improvements promptly.”
The Jakarta environmental agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
President Prabowo Subianto warned last month that many of Indonesia’s landfills, currently being phased out, are expected to exceed capacity by 2028.
The government plans to invest $3.5 billion in building 34 waste-to-energy facilities over the next two years to incinerate garbage and generate electricity.
Bantargebang is not the first fatal landfill disaster in Indonesia. A similar landslide in West Java in 2005, triggered by heavy rain and a methane gas explosion, killed 143 people.
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