At least 245 dead in Indonesian tsunami: health ministry

Pangandaran, Indonesia - At least 245 people were killed and 450 injured by the tsunami that smashed into the southern coast of Indonesia's Java island, the health ministry said Tuesday.
About 140 people were still missing and 52,700 people have been displaced -- about 10 times as many as earlier estimated -- the head of the crisis centre at Indonesia's health ministry, Rustam Pakaya, told AFP.
A 26-year-old Frenchwoman was among the deceased, a diplomatic source told AFP, while Metro TV reported that six foreign nationals were among the injured, including two Dutch and four Japanese.
Two Swedish children aged between five and 10 years old reported missing on Monday were yet to be located, another diplomatic source said.
The tsunami struck at least six districts across Central and West Java provinces with Ciamis district, some 270 kilometres (170 miles) southeast of the capital Jakarta, appearing to be the hardest hit.
At least 1,500 rescue workers were combing coastal areas in a bid to find the missing but were short of equipment as relief workers warned that many more victims may be buried under rubble.
"We suspect there are still many people buried under the debris. We lack heavy equipment such as backhoes and electric chainsaws," Agus Sutrisno, head of disaster relief operations in Ciamis, told AFP.
Agence France Presse
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