Flash floods ripped through a popular resort town in Indonesia's North Sumatra Province late Sunday night, killing at least 92 people, including five foreign tourists, the daily Jakarta Post reported Tuesday.

Hundreds of others were missing and feared dead, while downed communication lines and demolished bridges hampered rescue efforts, officials added.

Around 420 houses, including five tourist cottages, were destroyed or damaged when floodwaters, mud, trees and other debris hit the Bukit Lawang resort in Bahorok subdistrict, Langkat regency.

The floods, triggered by days of heavy rains and severe deforestation, hit Bahorok, about 100 kilometers from the North Sumatra capital Medan on Sunday and Monday.

The Bahorok River, which flows down from nearby mountains, and smaller rivers burst their banks and washed away residential areas and dozens of guesthouses that host tourists in the area famous around the world as an orangutan rehabilitation center.

The foreigners killed were identified by police only as from the United States, Austria, Singapore and Germany. Their bodies were taken to the Adam Malik General Hospital in Medan.

Also among the dead were a group of 20 domestic tourists from West Sumatra.

Officials at the Bukit Lawang disaster handling task force said they had found at least 92 bodies by late Monday evening, while other sources put the death toll at more than 100.

Most of the dead villagers could not be identified as they were not carrying identity cards.

At least 67 people were injured and were being treated at the Djulham Binjai General Hospital, the task force said.

The number of dead will likely soar as a rescue team assisted by hundreds of local police and government officials as well as villagers was searching for missing people, reportedly numbering in the hundreds.

Survivors said that most of the dead were drowned, while others were killed as the floods and fallen trees ripped through their homes or cottages.

At least five rivers in the sub-districts of Batang Serangan, Wampu, Bahorok, Tanjung Pura and Sawit Seberang overflowed after the rains. However, the worst floods came from the Bahorok River that runs through the township of Bahorok, home to around 43,000 people.

Langkat Regent Syamsul Arifin blamed the disaster on severe deforestation in Mount Leuser National Park.

"The deforestation has continued unchecked by loggers from within and outside Langkat. We have several times tried to stop them, but illegal logging continues," Arifin said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2003)