Batang Kali landslide: SAR efforts focusing on riverside sector after girl's body found on Dec 20

HULU SELANGOR: The effort to find the eight remaining victims of the Batang Kali landslide has intensified after the body of a young girl was found at ground zero on Tuesday (Dec 20) night.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant director (operations) Hafisham Mohd Noor said the body was found 17m deep beside a large boulder at Sector C (riverside) during the final hours of Tuesday's search and rescue (SAR) operation.

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"We had earlier dug only 12m down in the area where the girl's body was found.

"Thanks to assistance from the Armed Forces, we were able to locate and extract the body at 10.49pm after digging a further 5m down," he said.

He also expressed concern for the safety of SAR personnel because of the thick mud and constant water flow at the riverside area.

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"As excavators dug up the ground to find the girl's body, water continuously leaked into the hole, endangering the rescuers.

"As such, safety officers will be placed at key areas to survey the land and ensure its stability at all times," he said.

He added that a siren would be sounded if the situation became too hazardous.

Hafisham noted that all 25 bodies recovered so far have been intact but that that could change after the seventh day of SAR operations.

"After seven days, bodies begin to decompose rapidly, especially under heavy pressure from the earth piled above them.

"As such, it may become increasingly difficult for us to locate other bodies intact as the body breaks down and limbs separate from the torso," he said.

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Hulu Selangor district police chief Supt Suffian Abdullah said Wednesday's (Dec 21) SAR operation would continue to focus on the riverside area with small teams working on the hillview and farmview sectors.

He added that 106 personnel, 11 excavators and four sniffer dogs would be deployed, with additional sweeper teams in other areas.

He noted that Tuesday's discovery made the SAR workers more confident of finding the remaining victims after three fruitless days of searching.

"We are hopeful that we will be able to find the remaining eight victims' bodies by today," he said.