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At least eight people were killed and nine injured when a mudslide slammed into 20 houses in Battang Barat village in Palopo, South Sulawesi, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.

Rustam Pakaya, the head of the ministry’s crisis center, said that a search team comprising members of the police, Army and the Ministry of Social Affairs was looking for bodies in the area, after three days of heavy rain triggered a mudslide

“Up to 51 mudslide points have been cut off [from the main roads], so our medical teams have had to walk through the mud to reach affected areas,” Rustam said, adding that landslides were also reported between Poros Palopo and Tana Toraja, cutting off the road between the two towns.

Palopo Police Chief Adjutant Comr. Mustaring said he would wait on the outcome of the rescue operations before he could give a more accurate number of casualties. Search teams were forced to evacuate the victims via the banks of a nearby river after the roads had been cut off.

Rustam said a health assessment team from the provincial crisis center had joined medical officers from the Palopo health office to care for the victims.

Battang Barat village is located in a mountainous region where mudslides often occur as a result of heavy rain and deforestation.