Indonesian rescuers resumed the search on Tuesday for 45 people still missing after a landslide at an illegal gold mine on Sulawesi island that killed at least 17 people, an official at the country's search and rescue agency said.

Torrential rain triggered the disaster on Sunday morning in the district of Suwawa in Gorontalo province, with the landslide engulfing miners and residents living nearby.

Salama, an official at Indonesia's search and rescue agency, said rescue efforts restarted on Tuesday after being temporarily halted on Monday due to heavy rain.

Nearly 400 people were involved in the rescue operation, aided by a helicopter, said Salama.

So far 52 people had been found alive, though the operation was being hampered by thick mud and with some rescuers having to walk more than 20km to reach the site of the disaster, he said.

National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said torrential rains that have pounded the mountainous district since Saturday triggered the landslide and broke an embankment, causing floods up to the roofs of houses in five villages in Bone Bolango, which is part of a mountainous district in Gorontalo province.

Nearly 300 houses were affected and more than 1,000 people fled for safety.

Indonesia's last major mining-related accident occurred in April 2022, when a landslide crashed onto an illegal traditional gold mine in North Sumatra’s Mandailing Natal district, killing 12 women who were looking for gold. (Reuters/AP)