Indonesian rescue teams are urgently searching for 19 people missing following a landslide triggered by heavy rain at a gold mine in Papua, the country’s easternmost province. Officials confirmed the disaster on Monday.

The landslide struck late Friday in a small-scale gold mine operated by local residents in the Arfak mountains of West Papua province, according to Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency. The mudslide destroyed temporary shelters used by miners, killing at least one person and injuring four others, while leaving 19 unaccounted for.

At least 40 rescue personnel, including police and military units, have been deployed to the remote mountainous site to conduct search and rescue operations.

The operation faced initial delays as rescuers only began searching on Sunday due to the remote location, which required at least 12 hours of travel through damaged roads and difficult mountainous terrain. “The damaged roads and mountainous tracks as well as bad weather hampered the rescue efforts,” said Yefri Sabaruddin, head of the local rescue team. He warned that the number of casualties could rise.

Small-scale and illegal mining remains a persistent safety hazard in Indonesia, where mineral resources are often located in isolated areas that pose challenges for regulation and emergency response.

The tragic incident follows similar disasters in the region. In September last year, heavy rains caused a landslide that killed at least 15 people at an illegal gold mine in West Sumatra province. Earlier, in July, another landslide at a gold mine on Sulawesi island claimed at least 23 lives.

Authorities continue their search efforts amid concerns over the difficult terrain and ongoing rain, hoping to find survivors among the missing miners.

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