Tanjung Bungah landslide: Only five still buried in rubble

GEORGE TOWN: The Fire and Rescue Department confirmed that only five victims are still buried under the laterite earth after the landslide at a construction site in Tanjung Bungah on Saturday.

Its assistant director-general (operation) Edwin Galan Teruki (pix) said the landslide which occurred at about 8.30am Saturday hit 14 workers but three of them managed to escape.

"Only 11 of them were buried under the soil. So far, we have retrieved the bodies of six of the men.

"We hope to remove all the other victims from the site this evening," he said on Sunday.

He explained that the department could not provide the exact number of victims buried in the landslide on Saturday because three of them were earlier sent to the hospital for injuries.

"Now, we have confirmation from them and at the same time, we got their help in determining the location of the other victims," he said.

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

"We have added another excavator and extra lorries to remove the soil from the site," he added.

Asked if the buried victims could still be alive, Edwin said he could not predict but it might be "hard".