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JAKARTA - Floodwaters that killed scores of people in northwestern Indonesia have begun to recede, authorities said on Tuesday, as rescuers search remote areas for up to 200 people still missing.
State news agency Antara said one district official reported 500 bodies found in a remote village in Aceh province, but senior government and Red Cross officials said they had no information to confirm that.
Officials said the floods and subsequent landslides have killed at least 100 people in Aceh and neighbouring North Sumatra province, with tens of thousands forced to flee their homes for higher ground, officials said.
In Aceh, still reeling from the devastating tsunami two years ago that left about 170,000 dead or missing in the impoverished province, the death toll rose to 69, the officials said.
Another 31 have died in neighbouring North Sumatra, including 22 people killed in a landslide in Muara Sipongi district after getting approval to return home following an earthquake last week.
"Today we are continuing to search for victims. There are 200 people reported missing," Syahbuddin Usman, head of Aceh's hard-hit Tamiang district, said by telephone.
Washed out bridges, impassable roads, and no communications in some areas meant it was impossible to know whether the missing were dead or simply unable to alert family or the authorities that they had survived.
Provincial spokesman Hamid Zegin said the water was receding but some areas remained largely cut-off. Authorities were using lorries and helicopters to deliver food, medicine and other relief supplies, he said.
Authorities have blamed heavy rains and the effects of deforestation for the destruction. Lack of adequate forest cover leaves the ground less able to absorb excess water.
- REUTERS
