Search for survivors in Indonesia

The disaster hit Tuesday after heavy rains lashed six districts across the province earlier in the week, and workers have been struggling to search for bodies and survivors since, hindered by landslides and the remote location.

The death toll in worst-hit Sinjai district stood at 196, while 60 people were still missing, said Eki Basuki, an official at the local disaster relief center.

The state Antara news agency said 20 more people died in five other districts, lifting the toll across the province to over 200.

The UN children's agency UNICEF said that one-third of the victims were children. It also said in a press statement that 7,500 people had been left homeless.

The agency also said it was airlifting emergency supplies of hygiene equipment and water containers to the affected areas.

Workers meanwhile were also airlifted into mountainous villages in the damaged areas in a desperate effort to uncover more bodies, said Ibrahim, another relief official in Sinjai.

"The search and rescue team arrived in Sinjai Borong Thursday but communication is difficult so we don't know if there are more victims," he told AFP.

The airforce had dropped emergency food and medicine supplies, but little was known about the condition of the survivors in the mountains as mudslides had blocked road access to the region, he said.

Navy teams were still hopeful they could recover more bodies and were combing the sea around the Pulau Sembilan islands off the coast of Sinjai, as well as the Sinjai coast, said Ibrahim.

"The navy is still looking along the coast from Sinjai until Bone, but they haven't found anything this morning," he said.

Iswan, another official in Sinjai district, said rescue workers were searching into the night.