Indonesia floods: Death toll rises to 63

Jakarta, March 17 : The death toll in the flash floods that hit Indonesia's Papua province rose to 63 on Sunday even as rescue operations are underway to search for the dozens missing, a disaster official said.

Torrential rains triggered the floods at around 6 p.m. in several villages in Jayapura district on Saturday.

At least 21 people were critically injured, Cory Simbolon, head of the emergency unit of the provincial disaster management agency told Xinhua.

Over 3,000 people have been forced to flee from their home and take shelter elsewhere as dozens of houses, buildings, bridges and other infrastructure were damaged, he said.

Landslides upstream had accumulated soils at the river, hampering water flow. The flash floods occurred when that soil collapsed, the National Disaster Management Agency's Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.