Batang Kali landslide: Distraught relatives begin claiming bodies of deceased

One of the hearses leaving the mortuary at Sungai Buloh Hospital.

SUNGAI BULOH: The mortuary at Hospital Sungai Buloh started to see a flurry of activity Sunday (Dec 18) morning as relatives of the Batang Kali landslide victims started arriving to claim the remaining nine bodies as early as 8am.

Three hearses from funeral parlours also arrived and prepared to transport bodies after they had been claimed.

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A dozen volunteers from the Tzu Chi humanitarian group stood by in the mortuary to assist distraught relatives of victims.

Members of the police Disaster Victim Identification Unit were also present.

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Fifteen bodies were claimed on Saturday (Dec 17), with the last one being that of a 12-year-old claimed at midnight.

Search and rescue works were still ongoing to find nine other missing victims at Father's Organic Farm in Jalan Batang Kali, near Gohtong Jaya.