Two people remain missing on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, officials said on Friday, as waters began receding after flooding killed at least 16 people this week, most of them swept away when rivers burst their banks.
Torrential rains on Tuesday and Wednesday caused the fast-rising floods in Denpasar and six of Bali's eight regions, blocking major roads and access to the island's international airport. There were also landslides in some areas.
The search for the two missing people was still ongoing on Friday, said I Nyoman Sidakarya, the head of Bali's search and rescue body.
Rapid development on the island did not take into account the need for sufficient drainage infrastructure, said I Nyoman Gede Maha Putra, an architecture and planning expert at the Warmadewa University in Denpasar.
"The city planning does not consider disasters," he told Reuters. "All of the infrastructure construction is geared toward making Bali more attractive to tourists and investors."
Bali’s governor, I Wayan Koster, was quoted by local media as saying, however, that conversion of land use was not to blame for this week’s flooding in Denpasar.
The regional development planning body for the Bali government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tourism is Bali's main source of income, and last year, there were more than 6.3 million international tourist arrivals on the island, according to data from the country's Statistics Bureau. This exceeds tourist arrivals from 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic ground tourism to a halt.
Bali accounts for more than 40% of Indonesia's total tourist arrivals last year.
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More than 17 million people in Afghanistan are facing acute food insecurity this winter, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
The latest clashes between Thailand and Cambodia mark a dangerous escalation in one of Southeast Asia’s oldest and most sensitive disputes.
At least 37 people have been killed in flash floods triggered by torrential rain in Morocco's Atlantic coastal province of Safi, Moroccan authorities said on Monday (15 December).
Cambodia must be the first to declare a ceasefire in the ongoing border conflict, Thailand said on Tuesday (16 December), as fighting continued despite earlier claims that hostilities would stop and at least 52 people have been killed on both sides.
Schools across Cambodia and Thailand were forced to close on Monday (15 December) as border clashes between the two countries escalated, with the death toll reaching at least 40 and hundreds of thousands of people displaced, according to officials and local media.
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that his administration is examining whether Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire agreement by conducting an airstrike on Saturday (13 December) that killed Hamas leader Raad Saad.
Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, says it struck a Russian Kilo‑class submarine in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, causing critical damage.
The European Union faces a critical decision on how to finance Ukraine’s war effort, divided over whether to use frozen Russian assets or jointly borrow funds through 2027.
More than 17 million people in Afghanistan are facing acute food insecurity this winter, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
In the complex world of international diplomacy, the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan have raised significant questions about the role of third-party mediation.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 17th of December, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Plans for a $500 million Trump Tower in Belgrade have been cancelled after protests and a legal investigation. The project, backed by Jared Kushner, former White House adviser, was halted after Serbian prosecutors indicted officials over removing the site's cultural heritage status.
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