Batang Kali landslide: Social media abuzz with K-9 tracker dogs in action

Photo credit China Press (Facebook)

PETALING JAYA: Social media was abuzz with news of K-9 tracker dogs in action in the search for victims buried at the Father’s Organic Farm landslide site in Batang Kali.

A video on TikTok shows the dogs - Frankie, Denti, Pop and Grouse - hard at work while being cared for by their handlers.

TikTok user @zanazain29 posted the video about 10 hours ago, and it has since garnered almost 50 thousand likes on the social media platform.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Datuk Norazam Khamis had said his department had six dogs at the site while the police force and Malaysian Armed Forces have five dogs searching for victims.

"Two of our dogs here are Grouse and Denti; an English Springer Spaniel and a Labrador Retriever, who are both six-years-old. These dogs helped find six victims during the first two days of search and rescue (SAR) operations," he told reporters on Sunday (Sept 18).

Fire and Rescue Department K-9 operations and training officer R. Chandran had said the dogs detected the scent of three bodies on Friday (Dec 16) and also detected the scent of two others on the same day.

"The three were successfully found and excavated on that day while the two others were dug up the next day.

“Usually, when one of our dogs detects a scent, we will then bring in another dog to come and verify," he said, adding that these dogs work in 30-minute shifts.

He said the reason for this is so that their level of detection is always effective.

"These dogs are capable of detecting scents at a depth of about three to four metres in the ground," he added.