Disaster co-ordinator Donar Pasaribu said 72 people including five foreigners had been confirmed dead after a river burst its banks Sunday night, sweeping away homes and tourist cottages in the town of Bahorok.

Another 98 are missing presumed dead, he said.

"I am 99.99 percent sure that these (missing) people are dead," Pasaribu told AFP.

He said two German women aged 20 and 26, a 63-year-old Singaporean male, a 30-year-old Dutch man and another 30-year-old man from Austria were among the dead.

Their bodies have been taken to a hospital in Medan, the provincial capital, while eight foreigners who escaped the deluge were evacuated to Medan and Binjai, a neighbouring town.

A local military officer said 250 police and soldiers had joined rescue efforts to find the missing people, who have been buried beneath logs and mud since Sunday night.

Bahorok, 96 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of Medan, is on the eastern fringes of the Gunung Leuser national park. It is the home of a famed orangutan refuge, which is popular with tourists who also go trekking and white-water rafting.

TERRA.WIRE