300 people feared dead in Java landslide: UN

The landslide is the second disaster this week to hit Java as a result of monsoon rains and deforestation.

At least 300 people in an Indonesian village in central Java have probably been buried and killed by a landslide, unleashed by heavy rain, the United Nations humanitarian office said.

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In the village of Sijeruk, 370 kilometres east of the capital Jakarta, "local authorities fear at least 300 people" were buried under a torrent of mud, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva said in a statement.

Local officials also said Wednesday's landslide covered about 15 acres and the mud was up to five metres deep.

The landslide is the second disaster this week to hit the island of Java as a result of monsoon rains and, activists charge, deforestation.

In the district of Jember, about 800 kilometres east of Jakarta, flash flooding has killed 77 people since Saturday, "including 71 in the sub-district of Panti, the area most affected by the torrential rain," the UN office said.

According to OCHA, 9,500 people have been left homeless in the district, and nearly 7,000 are living in temporary camps.