BERNAMA – Entering the ninth day of the search and rescue mission on Saturday, team members had almost given up and lost hope of finding the last victim of the landslide tragedy at the Father’s Organic Farm campsite.
With excavations having been carried out in all sectors of the site and chances of locating the body getting slimmer, the personnel gathered whatever strength they could muster before finally making the discovery in the evening.
The body of a boy was found in a sleeping bag about 1.5 metres under the rubble in Sector A (hill view) at 4.53pm.
Recounting the experience, Selangor Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Hafisham Mohd Noor said although the boy’s father and sister were found there on the first day of the operations on December 16, they could not locate the boy even after repeated excavations in the area.
He said as hopes waned, a breakthrough occurred when a team member noticed a strange liquid flowing in Sector A of the site.
“When the firemen dug, the body of a boy in a sleeping bag was found.
“The last victim was the most difficult because we had already done excavations there repeatedly, but we finally found the body,” he told Bernama.
Hafisham said the most challenging part of the SAR operation was when rescuers had to dig seven metres deep to retrieve four bodies of a family.
“All of them were found rolled up in a tent along with the tent equipment.
“Alhamdulillah, I am thankful that the SAR operation went smoothly and thank all the other rescuers involved,” he said.
Ninety-two victims were involved in the tragedy that occurred in the wee hours of December 16, with 61 of them surviving.
The incident claimed the lives of 18 adults and 13 children with 20 bodies found in Sector A, one in Sector B and another 10 in Sector C.
