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Indonesia quarry collapse: Owner among six people questioned by police after 14 deaths

The quarry owner is among those being quizzed as the investigation into what caused the incident continues.

There have been at least 14 deaths following the collapse at the Gunung Kuda quarry on Friday.

Twelve injured people were rescued and 10 bodies were recovered from the debris during the initial search effort.

Rescuers then retrieved three more bodies later that day, while another worker died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 14, the National Search and Rescue Agency said.

Five more people are being treated in hospital with serious injuries.

But six to eight others are thought to be still trapped under the rubble and the search continues.

Local television showed emergency personnel, police, soldiers and volunteers desperately digging through the debris at the foot of a steep limestone cliff on Saturday.

Other footage captured excavators trying to shift huge rocks and workers placing body bags in an ambulance.

Illegal or informal mines are common in Indonesia, and bring the risk of landslides, flooding and tunnel collapses.

On Friday, West Java governor Dedi Mulyadi said he had ordered the closure of this quarry, as well as four other similar sites in the province.

Last year, a landslide triggered by torrential rains wiped out an unauthorised gold mining operation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing at least 15 people.

The country was hit by several other major landslides in 2024.

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