Jakarta, March 17 (IANS) More than 40 people have died and dozens are missing as flash floods hit Indonesia's Papua province, a disaster official said on Sunday.

Torrential rains triggered the floods at around 6 p.m. in several villages in Jayapura district on Saturday.

At least 21 people were critically injured, Cory Simbolon, head of emergency unit of the provincial disaster management agency told Xinhua.

Over 3,000 people have been forced to flee home and take shelter elsewhere as dozens of houses, buildings, bridges and other infrastructure were damaged, Simbolon said.

Landslides upstream had accumulated soils at the river, hampering water flow. The flash floods occurred when that soil collapsed, National Disaster Management Agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

--IANS in