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Indonesian town buries dead in mass grave; flood toll rises

The Straits Times

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November 29, 2025

Families gathered at a health centre in the Indonesian town of Batang Toru on Nov 28, desperate for news about missing loved ones, as locals dug a mass grave to bury seven unclaimed victims of the cyclonic rain that has battered the country’s island of Sumatra.

The rain caused floods and landslides in three provinces across Sumatra Island, killing at least 94 people, according to Indonesia's disaster agencies.

Nearly 80,000 people have been evacuated and about 80 people are still missing.

In Batang Toru, where at least 21 have died, residents lifted seven decomposing bodies, wrapped in black plastic, from the back of a truck onto a wide plot of land belonging to a state plantation firm, while an excavator dumped clumps of dirt to bury them in a mass grave.

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