JAKARTA, Oct 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Rescuers have recovered the bodies of five workers, including two foreigners, who were missing for nearly a month after a landslide trapped seven of them at a mine in Indonesia's Papua region, operator Freeport Indonesia said on Monday.

The bodies of the other two missing workers were recovered in September.

The landslide occurred on September 8 when material from an extraction point flowed at one of five sections of the Grasberg Block Cave underground gold and copper mine in Tembagapura, Central Papua province.

The workers were trapped after the flow closed access and limited evacuation routes, the company said.

Two workers were found dead on September 20, nearly two weeks after the landslide.

The search for the remaining five workers continued for nearly a month.

"On Sunday... after working nonstop for 27 challenging days... (rescuers) found and evacuated five workers from the mud flow site at the Grasberg Block Cave. They were all found dead," the company said in a statement Monday.

A South African and a Chilean were among the victims retrieved, the company said.

"The rescue operation took a long time due to the difficult location" and the huge volume of 800,000 tonnes of material from the mud flow, company president director Tony Wenas said in a statement.

One victim would be buried in Papua, while the rest would be flown to Jakarta and returned to their respective hometowns, the company said.

The company suspended operations at the mine last month to prioritise the rescue.

It said in a statement last week that production would restart early next year.

Grasberg Block Cave is one of three mines at the site operated by Freeport Indonesia, making up one of the largest gold and copper complexes in the world and a frequent flashpoint in Papua's long-running insurgency.