Batang Kali landslide: We could only grab our phones, says foreign worker

HULU SELANGOR: When water and earth came crashing down on the Father's Organic Farm campsite, the workers only had to time to grab their phones before scrambling to safety.

"No money, no bag. Only the phone," said Myanmar national Knug Thang, who lived in the affected area with other foreign workers.

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“We woke up around 2am due to a loud noise. Then the house was flooded with earth and water,” he said when met at the Ulu Yam police station on Friday (Dec 16).

He and his 12 housemates managed to escape with minor injuries. One of his friends was seen behind him sleeping on the floor while resting an injured leg and others were also using the time to rest.

Knug, who spoke very little Malay, said little else before rushing to answer calls from concerned relatives in Myanmar.

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Another victim, 57-year-old Leong Jim Meng, said the landslide was unexpected as the weather had been generally fine for the last few days.

“We were asleep when it happened at 2am. It was too dark to see what was going on.

“We were trapped when the earth covered our tent. I managed to free myself and headed to the car park to call the authorities,” he said.

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Teh Lynn Xuan, 22, said there were about 40 others at her campsite.

Teh lost her younger brother in the incident while another brother was injured and sent to the hospital.

“We felt the tent becoming unstable and earth was falling on it. My mother and I crawled out to save ourselves,” she said.

Teh and about 20 friends and family members from Melaka, Selangor and Singapore were at the campsite for the school holidays.

Another victim who only wanted to be known as Lee, 28, told Bernama it was drizzling at that time and he only realised there was a landslide after hearing a loud noise.

"I saw the camp site at Zone A buried by the landslide. I rushed to the scene and managed to pull out two people, a woman and her child," he said.