INCESSANT rains today halted the search for 30 people believed trapped under a landslide that engulfed an unauthorised gold mine on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island over the weekend.

More than 100 villagers were digging for grains of gold on Sunday in the remote and hilly village of Bone Bolango in Gorontalo province when tons of mud plunged down the surrounding hills and buried their makeshift camps.

The search was suspended yesterday afternoon due to heavy rains and rescuers have not yet been able to locate the missing people.