Cirebon – Environmentalists blame illegal sand mining for recent floods that damaged thousands of hectares of paddy fields and houses in the West Java towns of Cirebon and Indramayu.

"Rivers can no longer accommodate rainwater, inundating paddy field and residential areas," Yoyon Suharyono of the Foundation for Workers and the Environment said Tuesday.

He pinned the blame on illegal sand mining in three districts covering an area of around 600 hectares. "Almost all the mining sites are located in fertile catchment areas," Yoyon said.