BEKASI, Indonesia – A catastrophic “trash avalanche” at the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Treatment Site (TPST) killed at least four people and left five others missing on Sunday afternoon, as torrential rains destabilized one of the world’s largest open-air landfills.

The landslide occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time in Zone 4C of the facility, located in Bekasi, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Jakarta. Massive mounds of refuse, some reaching heights of 50 meters, collapsed following hours of persistent downpours that began Saturday evening. The sliding waste buried several garbage trucks and destroyed nearby food stalls where workers and scavengers often congregate.

Casualties and Rescue Operations

As of Monday morning, search and rescue teams have recovered four bodies. The victims have been identified by the Bekasi Metro Police and Jakarta SAR Office:

• Enda Widayanti (25) and Sumine (60): Owners of local food stalls buried in the slide.
• Dedi Sutrisno (22) and Irwan Suprihatin (40): Garbage truck drivers caught in the collapse while unloading waste.

Four individuals survived the initial impact, including two truck drivers identified only as J and R. However, at least five people—primarily scavengers and truck drivers—remain unaccounted for.

Desiana Kartika Bahari, head of the Jakarta SAR Office, reported that over 200 personnel from the military, police, and disaster mitigation agencies are on-site. “The rescuers are opening access using heavy equipment like backhoes and deploying tracking dogs,” Bahari stated. The operation remains perilous as the remaining 55-million-ton “mountain of garbage” is still highly unstable and prone to further movement.

A “Failure of Waste Management”

The tragedy has sparked a swift political backlash. Minister of Environment Hanif Faisol Nurofiq visited the site late Sunday, calling the incident a “serious warning” and a “bitter lesson” for the Jakarta provincial government.

“Bantargebang belongs to the Jakarta administration, so they have to take responsibility,” Nurofiq told reporters. He criticized the continued use of “open dumping”—a method technically banned by a 2008 law—labeling the site a “tipping point” for Jakarta’s failed waste infrastructure. The facility, which spans 110 hectares, receives up to 7,500 tons of waste daily and has long been reported to be at overcapacity.

Impact on Jakarta’s Waste Flow

The landslide has caused immediate logistics chaos. The Jakarta Environment Service has temporarily suspended waste shipments to the affected zones to prioritize the search and recovery mission.

To prevent trash from piling up in the capital’s streets, authorities are attempting to divert flow to the Rorotan Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plant and other processing facilities. However, officials admit that these alternatives cannot yet handle the full volume of the 1,200 trucks that typically head to Bantargebang every day.

This disaster evokes memories of the 2005 Leuwigajah landfill collapse in West Java, which killed 143 people. While the current death toll is significantly lower, the collapse highlights a growing national crisis as Indonesia’s landfills are projected to reach absolute capacity by 2028.