Landslides and flash floods on Indonesia’s Sumatra island leave at least 23 dead and dozens missing

MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers recovered more bodies in the search for dozens of people buried under landslides or swept away after torrential rains unleashed flash floods and triggered landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, increasing the death toll to 23 and leaving more than two dozen people missing, officials said Wednesday.

Rescue teams were struggling to reach affected areas in 11 cities and districts of North Sumatra province after the monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks, tearing through hilly villages as mud, rocks and trees tumbled down, leaving destruction in their wake, as mudslides that covered much of the area, blackouts and lack of telecommunications were hampering the search efforts, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

Rescue workers by Wednesday had recovered at least eight bodies and three injured people in the worst-hit city of Sibolga and were searching for at least 21 villagers who were reported missing, the statement said. In the neighboring district of Central Tapanuli, landslides hit several homes, killing at least a family of four, and floods submerged nearly 2,000 houses and buildings, forcing about 1,900 displaced people to seek emergency shelters.

Rescuers retrieved seven more bodies in South Tapanuli district, raising the death toll to eight, and workers dug through tons of mud and rubble to search for three people remain buried after floods and landslides also uprooted trees, prompting more than 2,800 residents to flee to temporary shelters and injuring 58 others, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.

He said that landslides also hit 50 houses in North Tapanuli district and destroyed at least two main bridges in the region. Floods had cut off a bridge in Mandailing Natal and submerged hundreds of houses in the hilly district and its neighboring Padang Sidempuan city, where a resident was reported missing after being swept away by flooding.

North Sumatra provincial police spokesman Ferry Walintukan said that at least one resident died when mud and debris struck a main road on a tiny Nias island and at least two people were found dead after a landslide hit Pakpak Bharat district.

Images showed water cascading down rooftops as panicked residents scrambled for safety. In some areas, flash floods rose rapidly, transforming streets into raging torrents carrying tree trunks and debris.

Sibolga police chief Eddy Inganta said that emergency shelters have been set up and authorities urged residents in high-risk zones to evacuate immediately, warning that continued rainfall could trigger more landslides after six landslides in the hilly city flattened 17 houses and a cafe.

“Bad weather, power blackouts and mudslides hampered the rescue operation,” Inganta said, adding that access remains limited as rescuers battle harsh conditions.

Tuesday’s disasters occurred on the same day that the National Disaster Mitigation Agency declared the official end of relief efforts in two areas of Indonesia’s main island of Java after 10 days of operations. More than 1,000 rescue workers had been deployed to search for people buried under landslides triggered by torrential rains that left 38 people dead in Central Java's districts of Cilacap and Banjarnegara.

At least two people in Cilacap and 11 in Banjarnegara were still unaccounted for when the operations ended, as unstable ground, bad weather and the depth and extent of the landfill material pose a high safety risk to rescue teams and residents, the agency said.

Floods were also reported in many other provinces in the vast archipelago nation that is home to more than 280 million people, including in Aceh and West Sumatra, where hundreds of houses were flooded, many up to roofs and, main roads were blocked, the agency said.

Heavy seasonal rain from about October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.

Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta, Indonesia.

This photo released by National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BNPB) shows a bridge destroyed by a flash flood at North Tapanuli, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (BNPB via AP)

In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), rescuers on a rubber boat evacuate residents from their flooded home in North Sumatra province, Indonesia Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (BASARNAS via AP)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — New DNA testing has definitively linked the unsolved death of a Utah teenager in 1974 to the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, the local sheriff’s office said Wednesday.

Laura Ann Aime, 17, went missing Halloween night 51 years ago after she left a party alone to go to a convenience store. About a month later, her body was found by hikers on the side of a highway in American Fork Canyon. Aime was bound, beaten and without clothing. Authorities said the evidence indicated that she had likely been kept alive for several days after her abduction.

Investigators long suspected that Bundy was responsible — police said he verbally acknowledged his culpability leading up to his execution in Florida in 1989 — but the case remained open until they could be certain.

Bundy was one of the nation’s most prolific serial killers, with at least 30 women and girls’ deaths linked to him in several states in the 1970s. His murders — which occurred in sorority houses, parks and elsewhere — set the nation on edge. Bundy’s arrest drew widespread fascination, in part because many considered him to be charming and handsome.

Aime’s family described her as a free spirit who loved the outdoors and found joy in everything she did.

“Laura Aime is the quintessential daughter of Utah County," Utah County sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Reynolds said in a news conference earlier Wednesday. “We felt the pain the family feels when she was taken. We felt the pain that you felt this whole entire time, and we’ve had the desire to deliver to you some type of healing, we can’t really say closure.”

It’s not known when Bundy first began his attacks, but by 1974, young women — many of them college students — began disappearing in Washington state. Authorities were still investigating those cases when Bundy moved to Salt Lake City, and began killing people in Utah, Idaho and Colorado.

At the time of Aime’s killing, Bundy was studying law at the University of Utah.

He was arrested for the first time in August 1975, when police pulled him over and found incriminating items in his vehicle including rope, handcuffs and a ski mask.

He was found guilty the following year of kidnapping and assaulting a teen in Utah who had managed to get away. Bundy was sentenced to 15 years in prison for that crime, and while imprisoned he was charged in connection with the earlier death of a nursing student.

He was brought to Aspen, Colorado for a hearing in that case in 1977, and he escaped custody by climbing out a second-story courthouse window when he was left alone for a time. He was caught about a week later, but escaped again six months later by breaking through the ceiling of a jail.

That time Bundy fled across the country, eventually making his way to Tallahassee, Florida. On Jan. 15, 1977, he entered the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University, bludgeoning two women to death with a large branch and leaving two more badly injured. He then went to another house nearby, badly injuring another woman.

Less than a month later, he abducted, sexually assaulted and killed a 12-year-old girl in Lake City, Florida. Kimberly Leach was believed to be his final victim: Bundy was pulled over in Pensacola while driving a stolen vehicle, and arrested.

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

FILE - Accused murderer Ted Bundy leans back in his chair as trial judge Edward Cowart speaks, in Tallahassee, Fla., April 26, 1979. (AP Photo/Mark Foley, File)