JAKARTA: At least 222 people died and another 843 were injured in Indonesia on the islands of Java and Sumatra when a tsunami struck areas around the Sunda Strait late on Saturday following a sub-sea landslide caused by a volcano, the government's Disaster Mitigation Agency said on Sunday.
Among the dead are two members of the Jakarta-based pop band Seventeen, its spokeswoman Yulia Dian said, adding that three others from the group and the wife of one of the band members remain unaccounted for.
"The wave hit at around 9.30pm, sweeping away our stage that was erected just in front of the beach...and all of the people at the scene," Yulia said.
"222 people are dead, 843 people are injured and 28 people are missing," Indonesia's national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
"This number is predicted to increase because not all victims have been successfully evacuated, not all health centres have reported victims and not all locations have got complete data."
"We're recapping reports of impacts from the tsunami that struck in the Sunda Strait, particularly Serang, Pandeglang and South Lampung," the spokesman told Metro TV on Sunday morning, referring to the tidal wave linked to an earlier eruption of Anak Krakatau volcano.
"It was caused by a combination of an undersea landslide resulting from volcanic activity on Anak Krakatau and a tidal wave," he added.
Meteorological officials later said a spring tide, caused by the full moon, possibly made the wave larger than it otherwise would have been.
According to a statement from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), "the tsunami hit several areas of the Sunda Strait, including beaches in Pandeglang regency, Serang, and South Lampung."
The tsunami struck at around 9.30pm local time on Saturday night, it said.
(Reuters video)
Endan Permana, head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency in Pandeglang, told Metro TV police were providing immediate assistance to victims in Tanjung Lesung in Banten province, a popular tourist getaway not far from Jakarta, as emergency workers had not arrived in the area yet.
"Many are missing," Permana said.
Residents sit inside a mosque as they evacuated following high waves and the eruption of Anak Krakatau volcano at Labuan district in Pandeglang regency, Banten province, Indonesia, on Saturday. (Reuters/Antara photo)