JAKARTA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were killed, two missing and seven seriously injured in a landslide in Central Java province of Indonesia, the provincial Disaster Management Agency said here on Monday.

    Rescue for the missing was underway after the accident occurred on Sunday in the Magelang town of the province, an official of the agency Dwi Santoso said.

    "Eight died, seven were seriously wounded and two others were unfounded," he told Xinhua on telephone from the province.

    The landslide occurred on Sunday morning when over 30 villagers were jointly digging land for irrigation, said Santoso.

    "The soil from the high land fell and hit the people," he said.

    The official said that days before the accident, the territorial rain had poured the area which lack of forest cover.

    Lack of forest cover has been blamed for the regular floods in Indonesia, as the soil in the high plains areas could not hold excess water resulted from heavy territorial rains.

    The inadequate forest cover is widely caused by deforestation and destruction, such as rampant illegal loggings.

    Indonesia has been frequently hit by floods and landslides, with the most recent disaster taking place at North Sumatra and Aceh provinces in Sumatra Island, which killed nearly 200 people and destroyed hundreds of houses.