Landslide Devastation in Java: A Perilous Rescue Operation

Heavy rains caused deadly landslides on Indonesia's island of Java, killing at least 18 and leaving 34 missing. Rescue operations are underway with police, soldiers, excavators, and sniffer dogs deployed to find missing villagers and secure the area as weather modifications are attempted to stabilize conditions.

In a grim search for life, rescue workers are meticulously combing through heaps of mud and rubble on Indonesia's Java island, following landslides that have claimed at least 18 lives and left 34 people unaccounted for. With communities devastated, the rescue mission is now in a race against time.

Triggered by relentless rains, Thursday's landslides struck multiple areas, turning three villages in the Cilacap district into disaster zones. Emergency personnel, including over 500 rescue workers, aided by machinery and trained dogs, were deployed to search for the missing, confirming the rising death toll as recovery continued.

Weather conditions remain a focal point of concern, prompting a massive weather modification operation to avert further downpours that may derail rescue efforts. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency hopes to redirect rain away from the rescue sites using cloud seeding techniques, which involves introducing particles into clouds, leveraging all available resources to manage this precarious situation.

(With inputs from agencies.)