KUANTAN - A landslide in Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands early on Jan 26 killed two men, while another three people are feared to have been buried alive.
The five victims are Myanmar nationals aged 25 to 56, the Cameron Highlands District Disaster Management Committee told Malaysian media.
The incident occurred at Batu 54 in Blue Valley, a small town in the popular hilly tourist destination Cameron Highlands.
Director of the Pahang Fire and Rescue Department Haji Wan Mohammad Zaidi Wan Isa said in a statement that the search and rescue operations are ongoing after the department received a distress call at 2.51am.
Cameron Highlands Police Deputy Superintendent Azri Ramli told The Star that the victims were living in two houses that were hit by the landslide.
The body of a 36-year-old man was found at 5.40am, followed by a second body, discovered about 10m from the houses at a vegetable farm.
Mr Azri said some small landslides and continuous rain were hampering rescue efforts.
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He added that this was the first time a landslide involving deaths had occurred at the site.
Assistant director of operations Ismail Abdul Ghani told Bernama that nine firemen who first arrived at the site had to walk about 3km to get to the scene.
“The soil buried the house to a depth of 2m,” he said at a press conference.
Dr Zaidi said 132 people from various agencies as well as tracker dogs from the K9 unit have been mobilised to help with the rescue.
The Cameron Highlands Fire and Rescue station was notified of another landslide that occurred in Ulu Sungai Palas on Jan 25, but there were no casualties or property damage, he added.
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2022 Batang Kali landslide was due to heavy rain: Malaysian DPM
Major landslides in Malaysia
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