MEDAN, Nov 3: Flash floods swept through one of Indonesia’s biggest national parks early on Monday killing at least 67 people, including foreign tourists, as they slept and leaving hundreds more missing.

The floods swept through the Gunung Leuser national park on Sumatra island just after midnight following days of torrential rains, officials and rescue workers said.

By late afternoon on Monday, rescue crews said 67 bodies had been recovered, most of them Indonesians. They identified four of the foreign tourists killed — a 20-year-old German woman, a 40-year-old Austrian woman, a 67-year-old Singaporean man, and a Swiss man aged 30.

Officials said heavy rain since Sunday night had swollen the Bahorok river, which broke its banks, sweeping away dozens of wooden and concrete guesthouses that cater mostly to backpackers and local tourists, some for as little as $1-$2 a night. Some guesthouses were left under 10 metres of water.

Witnesses said buildings crumbled under the onslaught of the mountain river and boulders and logs swept by the current. The Bahorok runs through the park, renowned for an orangutan nursery and sightings of the Sumatran tiger and rhinoceros.

“Most of the dead people were sleeping inside houses, which were too weakly built. Those houses just vanished with the people inside,” Sofyan Tan, manager of the Bukit Lawang Cottages near the river, told Reuters by telephone. He said his guesthouse was largely unscathed.

“I was outside and climbed to higher ground. The people who did not survive were inside buildings. They thought houses would shelter them as the water got worse.

“The water is now about 10 metres (33 feet) deep...All I can see is water and mud,” Tan said.

Most of the bodies were found strewn on the banks of the Bahorok.

“We are still searching for more bodies and survivors,” Djonny Sitorus, a search and rescue team official, told Reuters by telephone. “According to information from residents, hundreds of people still remain missing.”

North Sumatra provincial spokesman Edi Sofya said by telephone at least five foreigners were among the dead.

The region is popular for wildlife watching as well as rafting, camping and trekking. The worst of the floods hit just after midnight as most people slept.

“Many houses were swept away,” Sitorus said. “We can’t reach some of the areas because the bridges have been swept away.”

Indonesia’s rainy season usually starts in November and lasts until April. Much of Sumatra and Java islands were hit by heavy rain overnight.

North Sumatra has periodically been hit by flooding, which some environmentalists blame on deforestation.

Speaking from Bukit Lawang valley, Jon Purba, another hotel manager who climbed to safety, said: “I am on top of the valley now...there are 40 bodies here.”

The official Antara news agency said bodies were being stacked up at a local mosque. A park official said the floods had not hit the primate conservation centre.—Reuters