Death toll climbs past 370 in Indonesian tsunami disaster
TANJUNG LESUNG, Indonesia — Body bags were laid out along the shattered coastline as Indonesian authorities stepped up efforts to collect the dead and save the injured Monday in the aftermath of a tsunami that was apparently triggered by a volcanic eruption. The death toll climbed to 373 and was certain to rise.
More than 1,400 people were injured and at least 128 were missing after the killer waves slammed into western Java and southern Sumatra without warning Saturday night, smashing homes to pieces and sweeping locals and Christmastime tourists into the sea.
Hundreds of military personnel and volunteers searched along debris-strewn beaches. Where victims were found, yellow, orange and black body bags were laid out, and weeping relatives identified the dead.
The waves followed an eruption and apparent landslide on Anak Krakatau, or “Child of Krakatoa,” a volcanic island that formed in the early part of the 20th century near the site of the cataclysmic 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.