Landslide Disaster In Tarutung Kills A Toddler

The houses of residents buried by landslides in Tarutung, North Tapanuli, North Sumatra. (ANTARA/Rinto)

JAKARTA - A five-year-old child, Mateo Lumbantobing (4), died from an avalanche that hit his parents' house in Lumban Jurjur Hamlet, Hutatoruan III Village, Tarutung District, North Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra.

"A toddler was killed by a landslide in Lumban Jurjur Hamlet, Hutatoruan III Village, Tarutung District, North Tapanuli Regency," said Head of Public Relations of the North Tapanuli Police, Aiptu Walpon Baringbing as quoted by Antara, Friday.

It was stated that the house that was hit by a landslide belonged to Ronel Lumbantobing (39), where the position of the house was directly below the mountain cliff.

Based on the results of the information compiled by police officers from a witness, namely Josua Gultom (44), a landslide suddenly hit the house.

"The witness heard the hysterical screams of the victim's father calling his son's name. Then the witness ran to the source of the sound and saw that some of the victim's house had been hit by a landslide," he said.

At that time, the victim's father and the victim's mother tried to dig up the ground that hit the house, where their child who was the victim was playing alone in the part of the house that was hit.

"All neighbors tried to save the victim from the pile of land, until 45 minutes later the victim was found and immediately rushed to Tarutung Hospital. However, the victim could not be saved," he said.

Currently, the police and BPBD Taput are conducting cleaning and countermeasures to anticipate further disasters.