Wednesday, June 21 2006 12:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jakarta: More than 70 people were killed and dozens of others were missing as flash floods and landslides swept through villages in the eastern Indonesian province of South Sulawesi, officials said Wednesday.

"The flash floods, triggered by several hours of heavy rain, inundated or heavily damaged hundreds of houses in four different districts in the province," officials said.

"By late this morning, at least 69 people have dead and between 40-to-50 people were still missing," said Andi Rudyanto Asapa, chief of the Sinjai district, the worst-hit area.

Asapa feared the death toll would increase further as rescue workers continued searching for missing people believed to have died after being swept away by floodwaters or buried under mudslides.

"The floods and landslides took place early Tuesday when locals were asleep," Asapa said. Meanwhile, the state-run Antara news agency reported from three other districts of the province that at least seven people were killed.

"The floods also swept away hundreds of houses, inundated thousands of hectares of fields, destroyed six bridges, and cut power and telephone communications to the affected regions," other officials said. Central Sulawesi governor and officials from the meteorology and geophysics' office and environmental groups were already blaming deforestation of the area for the disaster.

The floods are the latest calamity to hit the vast archipelago nation during this year's rainy season.

In early January, landslides and flash floods swept through several villages in Central and East Java provinces, killing more than 120 people and injuring dozens of others. Hundreds of dwellings were destroyed and thousands of villagers forced from their homes.