Body of final landslide victim found in Malaysia
Nine days after the landslide at the campsite of an organic farm, the last of the 31 victims who died in the tragedy was found by the search and rescue team.
Selangor Fire and Rescue Department deputy director Wan Md Razali Wan Ismail said one of its personnel had noticed some liquid flowing at the hillside in Sector A of the areas demarcated at the Father’s Organic Farm in Batang Kali.
“He thought it strange, so he and his team decided to dig manually using a shovel and discovered the body inside a sleeping bag,” he said. Another leader of the search and rescue team, Suffian Abdullah, said the body of the boy was found at 4.53pm underneath 1.5 metres of soil at the hillside some 4m from the campsite at Sector A.
“The victim, who is between seven and 12 years old, was fully clothed, but his body had started to decompose,” Abdullah told reporters at the search and rescue operations centre in Batang Kali yesterday.
He added that the search and rescue operation was still ongoing.
“We will make a decision on the status of the operation [on Sunday].”
A total of 80 personnel from various agencies were involved on the ninth day of the search and rescue operation, he added.
Twenty victims were discovered in Sector A, one in Sector B and 10 in Sector C.
There was no development at the operations centre for most of the day until about 5pm when news about the discovery of the last body came in.
Earlier, a member of the search and rescue team was rushed to the hospital after he collapsed.
“We believe he collapsed under the heat and dehydration. He might have forgotten to eat, too.
“He was rushed to Hospital Selayang for treatment,” officials said in a statement.
Authorities have not officially named the deceased boy.
According to news reports, he is 11-year-old Eng Shao Qi, a pupil at SJK(C) Mun Choong in Kuala Lumpur, where his father Eng Choon Wen, 43, operated a canteen. Choon Wen and his daughter Huai Yi, 12, as well as his canteen assistant Nurul Azwani Kamaruzaman, 31, also died in the December 16 landslide.
The Star
Asia News Network
