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Indonesia dam death toll rises to 97

March 30, 2009 00:00:00


JAKARTA, Mar 29 (AFP): The death toll from a burst dam in a Jakarta suburb rose to 97 Sunday as rescue workers continued to search for more than 100 people still missing, an official said.
Hundreds of buildings collapsed when a wall of water broke through the man-made earthen dam early Friday as residents slept in their beds.
"Until this afternoon, we recorded that a total of 97 bodies had been found," disaster emergency centre official Rahmat Salam told newsmen.
Some 700 rescue workers, police and military personnel joined forces Sunday in a third day of searching for 102 people still listed as missing.
Salam said officials were also working to verify the exact number unaccounted for after reports that scores of people had fled the area and were staying with relatives.
The 10-metre-high Situ Gintung dam was built in 1933 when Indonesia was under Dutch colonial rule. Authorities blamed the disaster on high water pressure following an intense downpour.
But local residents and environmentalists said that the dam had burst because it had not been properly maintained.

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