Patients brought to safety as landslip hits close to Queen Elizabeth Hospital ward on hill

KOTA KINABALU: Patients at the chronic illness ward of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 (QEH 1) here were moved to safer ground after a landslip occurred close to the building on a hill.

The landslip is believed to have occurred at around 7pm on Friday (Sept 3) after heavy downpour and flooding across the city, as well as most districts in Sabah’s west coast and interior.

It was learned that the patients were being moved to the adjacent palliative care unit block, pending assessment on the safety of the building.

Firemen and police were at the scene, though there were no casualties or damages to the structure of the building that sit atop a hill opposite the main QEH 1 complex.

" The shifting of the patients was just precautionary.

The landslip itself was minor, but it was close to the single block building," a source said.

Meanwhile, firemen are searching for a man whose MyVi was washed away while trying cross a low lying bridge at Kiansom in Inanam here around 4pm on Friday.

It is still not clear if the man managed to get out the vehicle in time to get to the banks, or he was dragged further down river while escaping his vehicle.

A spokesman for Fire and Rescue Department said firemen were at the scene and continuing operations.

A journalist, Lester Bingkasan, who was also heading to Kg Kiansom, said he and his wife were shocked when the motorist decided to cross the low bridge when the current was swift.

He said the car almost immediately swept off the bridge.

" I am not sure how many people were inside. I feel they could have been two people at least, " he said, adding that the MyVi driver was among them waiting to cross the river.

" Maybe he got impatient, we could not even get close to the river to help him," said Bingkasan.

He said they alerted the fire department.

He himself managed to drive across the bridge at only about 6pm when the river flow eased.

A video of the incident has gone viral.

Meanwhile, firemen confirmed that they are trying to locate two victims who were washed away while driving across a low-lying bridge in Kiansom area of Inanam in Kota Kinabalu.

One of the missing victims was identified only as Simpn, while the second missing person was unidentified.

However, a spokesman for the fire department said that at 8.40pm, they recovered a body of a man near the Cherry Blossom Club in Inanam.

The man was in the 50s and believed to be a victim of drowning was found by members of the public.

However, firemen could not say immediately if the body recovered was linked to the missing two people in the car at Kiansom about 10km away.

Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd also disclosed that numerous power outages were reported over the last 24 hours and assured consumers that works are being done to restore power.

Many houses and business areas in low-lying areas have been inundated by heavy rains since early Friday.

State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said all affected district disaster operations have been ordered to be activated.

Kota Kinabalu City hall has also activated its operations centre amid flood reports in various areas within and on the periphery of the city.