Indonesia: Landslide kills eight sand miners hinh anh 1Rescuers carry the body of a landslide victim in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia on December 18. (Photo: AP)

Hanoi (VNA) – At least eight miners were killed and eight others injured following a landslide on the slopes of Mount Merapi volcano on Indonesia’s Java island on December 18.

According to the country’s disaster mitigation agency, an avalanche of sand and rock cascaded all of a sudden, engulfing a group of workers mining there. It was not raining when the accident occurred, it noted.

Heavy equipment has been deployed to the site to aid search for missing people.

Mount Merapi, an active volcano near the city of Jogjakarta is the site of illegal sand mining as the sand there is high-quality and used to make cement.-VNA
VNA