The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides.
On 30 May 2025, a rock slope major failure occurred at a quarry at Gunung Kuda, which is located on the edge of Cipanas Village in Dukupuntang District, Cirebon Regency, West Java, Indonesia. At the time of writing, it has been confirmed that 19 people were killed in the accident, with a further six people remaining missing. Four people were injured.
The location of the failure is [-6.7754, 108.4022]. This is the site in Google Earth:-
Universitas Siber Asia has a good article about the event, in Indonesian but it translates well. There is also some Youtube footage of the site immediately after the failure:-
There are other videos circulating of a dramatic rock slope failure, but the ones that I have seen are not this event.
There is also some very clear drone footage of the site after the failure:-
This includes this view of the landslide:-
The geological structure of this quarry is very complex, with many joints being visible in the above image that would promote instability.
The Universitas Siber Asia article describes a site with a very poor history regarding instability:-
“The Geological Agency said the mine location was in a zone of high soil movement vulnerability, with a probability of landslide of more than 50%. The Head of the West Java Energy and Mineral Resources Office, Bambang Tirto Mulyono, stated that the main cause was the wrong mining method, namely digging from under the cliff, making the soil structure fragile. Repeated warnings from the Energy and Mineral Resources and police lines since February 2025 have been ignored by mine managers. As a result, the West Java Provincial Government revoked the mining permit that was supposed to be valid until October 2025 and closed the site permanently.”
Interestingly, the quarrying was licensed, albeit with substantial safety concerns. Detik Jabar describes the long term worries about the site:–
“…the Head of the West Java Energy and Mineral Resources Office, Bambang Tirto Mulyono, stated that the incident was caused by a faulty mining method carried out by the mine management. Warnings have been conveyed many times by the Energy and Mineral Resources department, and even preventive measures have been taken by the police.”
“We have repeatedly warned the mining authorities, even in a loud tone. The Cirebon Police have also installed a police line at the location since February because the mining methods carried out are not in accordance with safety standards. Mining should have been done from above, not from below,” said Bambang when met at the scene.“