JAKARTA - Seventeen people were killed, two people went missing and four others suffered from injuries in landslides in West Java of Indonesia, officials said on Saturday.

Yayah Suheryanto, senior official of disaster management and mitigation agency in West Java told Xinhua by phone that heavy rains was blamed for the landslide which occurred on Friday afternoon. The rain also cause flash floods, he said.

"Searching for the missing person has been underway, involving rescue team and the local resident," he said.

The disasters in Garut district also triggered scores of villagers to flee homes and took shelters at their relative's houses, said Sutopo, spokesman of the national disaster management and mitigation agency.

"The disaster killed 17 people and wounded four others. Rescuers are searching two missing person now," he told Xinhua.

The spokesman said that the local government had provide logistic, and heavy machinery equipment to help search the missing persons and to clean the area hit by the floods and landslides," he said.  

Indonesia has been frequently hit by landslide and floods due to lack of forest covered areas. The government has struggled to halt deforestation by planting trees.