Death toll rises in Jakarta flood

AFP - Rescue workers in Indonesia searched Saturday for more than 100 people still missing after a dam burst, sending a huge wave crashing into a Jakarta suburb, as the official toll rose to 93.

Hundreds of buildings collapsed when a wall of water broke through the man-made earthen dam early Friday, as residents slept in their beds.

Rescue workers said they would work through the day, scouring the mounds of mud and debris to search for the 109 people still missing after what one local compared to the 2004 tsunami that killed 168,000 people in Indonesia.

"The rescue team is in full spirit to help their brothers and sisters," coordinator Suyatno, who only uses one name, told AFP.

"There is a lot of debris. But we will manage to search through it, despite the difficulty.

"We'll continue to search until we are told to stop -- if necessary we will work late into the night," Suyatno said.

Rustam Pakaya, head of the government's crisis centre, said it was difficult to establish exactly how many people had been killed because some residents of the Cireundeu and Ciputat suburbs had the same name.

One resident, Supeje Sugeng, said the dam had burst because it had not been properly maintained.

"We'll see if we should ask the government for compensation. Right now, we're just focusing on finding the missing people," he said.