Four people were killed and 30 others were missing after heavy rain triggered a landslide on the Indonesian island of Nias on Wednesday, officials said.

The landslide slammed into a village in Majo Kampung Barije district on the island in North Sumatra province, disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

Confirming the dead and missing in a text message, he said that 37 houses were buried under the mud.

"Heavy rains the past three days had caused the hill to crumble. We are now still trying to pull out trapped victims from the landslide," district disaster management agency official Robertna Mendeva told AFP.

"It's difficult as it is still raining very heavily now."

Landslides usually triggered by heavy rain are a major killer in Indonesia, which is currently being lashed by monsoon downpours and widespread flooding.

Twenty-five miners were killed in a landslide on Sulawesi island in October 2008.