CIREBON, Indonesia (AP) 鈥 The death toll from the collapse of a stone quarry in Indonesia鈥檚 West Java province has risen to at least 17, with eight people still missing, officials said Saturday.
The victims were trapped in the rubble when the Gunung Kuda quarry in Cirebon district . A dozen survivors were found by rescuers.
By Saturday afternoon, rescuers had retrieved 16 bodies, while one of the survivors died in the hospital, said local police chief Sumarni. She said rescuers are searching for eight people still believed to be trapped
鈥淭he search operation has been hampered by bad weather, unstable soil and rugged terrain,鈥 said Sumarni who goes by a single name like many Indonesians.
She said the cause of the collapse is still under investigation, and police have been questioning six people, including the owner of the quarry.
Local television reports showed emergency personnel, along with police, soldiers and volunteers, digging desperately in the quarry in a steep limestone cliff, supported by five excavators, early Saturday.
West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi said in a video statement on Instagram that he visited the quarry before he was elected in February and considered it dangerous.
鈥淚t did not meet the safety standard elements for its workers,鈥 Mulyadi said, adding that at that time, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have any capacity to stop it.鈥
On Friday, Mulyadi said that he had ordered the quarry shut, as well as four other similar sites in West Java.
Illegal or informal resource extraction operations are common in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to those who labor in conditions with a high risk of injury or death.
Landslides, flooding and tunnel collapses are just some of the hazards associated with them. Much of the processing of sand, rocks or gold ore also involves the use of highly toxic mercury and cyanide by workers using little or no protection.
Last year, a landslide triggered by torrential rains on Indonesia鈥檚 Sumatra island, killing at least 15 people.
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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
