A landslide kills elite marines and villagers in West Java

A landslide in West Java killed more than 20 people in late January 2026, including 23 members of Indonesia's elite marine corps who were training at the site. As Al Jazeera reports, heavy rain on 24 January triggered the collapse in Pasirlangu village, in the Bandung area, on the slopes of Mount Burangrang. By 26 January, more than 40 people were still missing.

The marines had been preparing for a deployment to the border with Papua New Guinea when the hillside gave way. A senior officer, First Admiral Tunggul, said "extreme weather conditions with heavy rainfall" had caused the landslide at the training ground. In places the mud reached up to 8 metres deep, burying part of the camp and the village around it. More than 50 houses were badly damaged and over 650 people were forced from their homes, while unstable ground made the search slow and dangerous.

For families, the wait was agonising. One resident, Aep Saepudin, searching for 11 missing relatives, said simply: "I just want their bodies to be found. My heart aches." The disaster is part of a wider pattern in Indonesia, where heavy seasonal rain, steep land, and, in some places, cleared hillsides combine to make landslides a deadly and frequent threat.

Why it matters

For people living below steep slopes, especially in the rainy season, this is a stark reminder of how fast a hillside can fail after heavy rain. It also raises questions about where camps, homes, and villages are built, and how well warnings reach people in time. Watch whether officials review the safety of sites like this, and improve early warnings before the next big storm.