(Badung) Two foreign tourists, including an Australian, died on the Indonesian island of Bali in a landslide caused by heavy rains which swept away their villa, an official announced Thursday.
While Indonesia has yet to emerge from the rainy season that began in late November, heavy rainfall hit the tourist island of Bali and damaged irrigation canals in the centrally located village of Jatiluwih from the island.
The accumulated water caused a landslide that destroyed a wooden villa occupied by two tourists who were found dead, said I Nyoman Srinadha Giri, a local disaster management agency official.
The first victim is a 47-year-old Australian woman with a permanent residence permit in the United States. The second victim is a man who has not been identified.
“The victims were evacuated from the rubble while they were sleeping. There were two victims, a man and a woman, in the same bed,” said the local official.
Landslides occur regularly in Indonesia during the rainy season. The problem has been made worse in some areas by deforestation.
Last week, floods followed by landslides killed at least 27 people on the big island of Sumatra.