Eight people are missing and feared dead after a major landslide hit a road in remote eastern Indonesia, an official said Tuesday.

Heavy downpours in an isolated mountainous region of Papua province triggered the landslide Sunday, burying six construction workers and two bystanders under rock and rubble.

Papua police spokesman Patridge Renwarin said news of the incident did not reach local authorities until Monday, when a rescue team was quickly assembled.

But bad weather prevented police, the army and local officials from reaching the site of the landslide on Monday, with the effort to reach those buried resuming Tuesday.

"I have heard reports that the team reached the site and the evacuation process is ongoing," Patridge told AFP.

Landslides are common in Indonesia, one of the world's most natural-disaster prone nations.

The national disaster agency estimates about half of the country's 250 million population live in areas susceptible to landslides.