Landslide kills at least 7 in Indonesia

Rescuers dug for survivors after a landslide on Indonesia's main island pummeled a village on Wednesday, killing at least seven people and destroying homes and roads, officials said.

Days of torrential rainfall sent tons of mud surging into the village of Brebes, 150 miles east of the capital, Jakarta, on Java island, said Rustam Pakaya of the Health Ministry's Disaster Crisis Center.

Four bodies were recovered, including that of a 6-year-old boy, he said. Police and villagers were using traditional farming tools to dig out other victims because heavy digging machinery was unable to pass blocked roads.

Three houses were washed away, eight others were damaged and 200 people fled to temporary shelters, he said.

Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, a vast chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.