18 killed as landslides hit Indonesia's South Sulawesi

JAKARTA -- Eighteen people were killed, two injured and two others missing after landslides struck South Sulawesi province in central Indonesia on Saturday night, an official of the local disaster agency said on Sunday.

The landslides triggered by heavy downpours happened in Tana Toraja regency's two sub-districts of Makale and South Makale on Saturday night, destroying several houses and burying the residents inside, Head of Operational Unit of the provincial Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency Amson Padolo said.

The injured people had been rushed into a nearby hospital for medical treatment, while the rescuers were still searching for two missing residents, Padolo told Xinhua via phone, adding that the rescuers needed heavy machinery to clean up the roads buried by the soil.

Heavy rains and the potential for further mudslides had hampered the rescue operation, Padolo said.