Monday, February 21 2005 14:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jakarta: Some 146 people are believed to have died under hundreds of tonnes of garbage and earth on Indonesia's main Island today (Feb 21, 2005) when heavy seasonal rain unleashed a massive landslide, police said.

The landslide struck in the early hours when people were asleep and flattened upto 70 homes built in the shadow of a dumpsite at Cimahi, near Bandung, around 200 km south-east of Jakarta.

Television footage showed entire houses buried under tonnes of earth and rubbish, with splintered rafters and smashed roof tiles littering the area.

Scores of rescuers and search teams from the military, police and local residents were desperately scouring the site in the forlorn hope of rescuing some of those missing.

"We believe that there are 139 people still buried under the garbage... it appears that all of them are buried and it is very likely that they are all dead," Police Commissioner Susiyanti said.

Seven bodies had already been recovered from the disaster scene.

"The situation is still grave but we will continue rescue efforts while the weather still allows us to do so," she said, adding that while the rain had stopped, dark clouds remained.

The recovery effort was being hindered because rescuers feared triggering further landslides by disrupting the unstable ground, she added.

Second Sergeant Sudrajat from the Batujajar sub-district police post said that while seven bodies had been dragged from shattered homes at the edge of the landslide, only five people had been pulled out alive.