BANDUNG — Two foreign tourists including an Australian woman have been killed on the Indonesian resort island of Bali after heavy rain triggered a landslide that swept away their villa, an official said on Thursday (March 14).

Large areas of the archipelago of 17,000 islands are prone to flooding and landslides during the wet season which starts around November.

The wooden villa in Jatiluwih village on the popular tourist island was hit by the landslide on Thursday morning after a downpour in the area the previous night, local disaster mitigation agency official I Nyoman Srinadha Giri told AFP.

The intense rain eroded water canals used for irrigation that sit above the villa and triggered the landslide, killing the two, according to the official.

"The victims were evacuated from the debris while in sleeping (positions). There were two victims, a man and a woman in one bed," he said.

The female victim, 47, was born in Australia and had a United States permanent residence permit, while the male victim's nationality and identity remained unknown.

The victims' bodies were transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital Denpasar.

Landslides in Indonesia have been aggravated in some places by deforestation, with prolonged torrential rain causing flooding in some areas.  

Landslides and floods triggered by intense rains on Sumatra island last week killed at least 27 people. AFP