Councillor: Tunnelling at site on Pulau Nangka has reached 90%

Hard at work: Workers boring a hole through the cave.

MALACCA: The much-anticipated “Open Sesame” to the treasure cave on Pulau Nangka is expected to happen tomorrow, revealing the kind of trove and how much of it has been hidden away there over the past hundreds of years.

State executive councillor Datuk Abdul Ghafaar Atan said tunnelling to reach the site had reached 90% and there were just two days left (from yesterday) to get to the location.

“The entrance to the cave, the main entry point, has also been found and could be opened in the next two days,” he said after visiting the work site yesterday.

He said Smart Partnership Inter­national (M) Sdn Bhd, the company commissioned since January to detect and salvage the treasure, had until tomorrow to locate the site.

“We (the state government) will appoint another company if they fail to spot the site during the stipulated period,” added Abdul Ghafaar, the state Public Works, Infrastructure, Transport and Project Rehabilitation Committee chairman.

“We will consider extending the contract for the current company if they successfully open the cave’s door and if they need time to get to where the relics are stored,” he said.

In a front page exclusive on April 14, The Star reported that the state had given permits to two local companies to carry out excavation work under strict conditions set by the Malacca Museum Corporation.

A small group of people reportedly got into the cave about 30 years ago but none of them could take out any of the reputed treasure items.

They reportedly came out dazed and in a trance-like state after allegedly seeing, among other things, over 80 chests of gold in the cave.

Villagers said the buried cave was either protected by a curse or by spirits.