Official: 115 die of malnutrition in Indonesia

My Sin Chew.com/AP, 2009-09-06

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Some 115 people have died of acute malnutrition blamed on crop failures in a remote Indonesian province, an official said Friday.

Heavy rainfall has led to a poor harvest of sweet potato, a key food in mountainous parts of Indonesia's easternmost Papua province, putting the lives of thousands at risk, said Yuliat Iksomon, coordinator of the Disaster Management Agency there.

He said some 115 people have died of acute malnutrition in the past four months.

Iksomon said the problem has been aggravated by poor health facilities in parts of Yahukimo district, about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) east of the capital, Jakarta.

It is the second reported case of malnutrition in Yahukimo in four years. The first killed 55 villagers. (The Associated Press)