Nine bodies of landslide victims found, efforts underway to find two others

Nine bodies of foreign construction workers buried alive during the landslide at the affordable housing project construction site in Lengkok Lembah Permai, Tanjung Bungah here yesterday, have been found so far.

They were identified as Yunus Nazir Huson, Muhammad Elyas Mustak and Rahmatullah Mohd Sidiq from Myanmar; Hossen Mia, Nur Alam and Rahaman Abdur from Bangladesh; Hosrin and Erwin Salis from Indonesia; and Raza Ali from Pakistan.

Efforts to find two other workers still unaccounted for are ongoing.

Fire and Rescue Department assistant director-general (operation) Edwin Galan Teruki said the eighth body, that of Raza Ali was removed at 6.29 pm, about three hours after being located at 3.27 pm.

"He was crushed by steel beams, so more time was taken in retrieving the body because the beams had to be manually cut to ensure that the body was intact," he said.

He said the ninth body, that of Rahaman Abdur, was found at 6.20 pm just one metre from Raza Ali.

The two still unaccounted for after the landslide are Muhammad Monirul Islam (Bangladesh) and Yuan Kouk Wern (Malaysia).

The 11 workers were believed to be working at the bottom of the building under construction when the landslide occurred at 8.57 am yesterday.

It is learned that the work that was underway was for the basement construction for a 50-storey building, a project owned by a private company.

Three other workers escaped the mishap with minor injury.

The search and rescue operation involved various agencies, such as the police, Fire and Rescue Department including their K-9 Unit, Civil Defence Force, Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart) Putrajaya, Penang Hospital, Penang Island City Council and Rela.

It was estimated that about 1,000 tonnes of soil had to be removed from the site in order to find the other two victims.

-- BERNAMA