Batang Kali landslide: Ground penetrating radar being used to find victims

HULU SELANGOR: Search and rescue (SAR) personnel are relying on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) in their efforts to find victims at the Father’s Organic Farm landslide site.

However, personnel at the scene have yet to find any other victims as of Sunday (Dec 18) evening.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Datuk Norazam Khamis said the use of the two GPR has already helped personnel detect several anomalies under the soil so far.

"We did find four anomalies in Sector C today, but upon digging, we did not find any bodies.

"The machines are being used to narrow down our search scope so that we can focus our efforts in certain areas," he told reporters on Sunday.

Norazam said SAR efforts were halted for about an hour due to heavy rain at around 4.30pm.

"We have since resumed SAR operations and are expected to keep working until around 3am or 4am tomorrow morning provided the weather conditions do not change.

"This is to allow the excavator operators, and search and rescue personnel some time to rest before we resume again on Monday (Dec 19) morning," he said.

Norazam said the rain has caused the soil to become soft and is causing water flow at certain areas, which are introducing challenges to SAR operations.

"We have told personnel to only focus on one small area and not move around in their assigned sectors to avoid any untoward incidents," he said.

He added that on the first day, a total of eight victims were found via excavator dredging.

"We then found three more which were dug up by an excavator the next day, while the remaining victims were found after their limbs were seen sticking out of the soil. We also found a number of victims caught in debris," he said.

Meanwhile, Hulu Selangor OCPD Supt Suffian Abdullah said seven vehicles were detected at the site.

"We have recorded the vehicle registration numbers and will check them to ascertain their ownership. This is so that we can identify the victims involved," he said.