A job well done: Acryl Sani and members of the agencies involved in the SAR efforts at Father’s Organic Farm taking a picture together after the end of the operation. — AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star
HULU SELANGOR: After 10 days of a hugely challenging operation, with rescuers digging through thousands of tonnes of earth and mud, the search and rescue (SAR) efforts for the landslide tragedy here have come to an emotional end.
However, the locals now have a different problem with their access to the Batang Kali-Genting Highlands route (B66) closed, leaving many forced to take a long detour to get to their workplace.
Authorities have placed a barricade across the road, about 6km from the landslide site, following the conclusion of the SAR operation on Sunday.
Technician Mohd Ermi Ramli and his colleagues have had no problems using the road, even after the tragic landslide, but they now have to take an alternative route.
Mohd Ermi had to take a detour and travelled to Karak in Pahang to take another route since the state road was blocked.
The alternate route is about an hour away, he added.
No go: The Batang Kali-Genting Highlands route (B66) is off limits for now. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star
“I’m lucky because I’m only travelling to the hostel as my work starts tomorrow (today). If it had started today (yesterday), then I would have been late for work,” he said.
A friend who tried to use the road at 5am yesterday ended up using the alternate route.
“He was late for work,” said Mohd Ermi, 32, who lives in Kuala Kubu Baru.
Another co-worker resorted to pushing his motorcycle through a ditch, passing the barricade, so he could ride to his workplace.
After the landslide, he said police had allowed them to use the road to go to work.
However, last Friday, Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the road would only be reopened in the middle of next month after widening work is done.
He said portions of the road could be open to light vehicles after that.
A retiree, who wanted to be known as Chong, is hopeful his routine of travelling to Genting Highlands using the route can resume soon.
Prior to this, he visited Genting Highlands about two or three times a week for leisure.
“They should be manning the barricade. It’s fine for people like me who travel for leisure not being able to pass through, but the workers should’ve been allowed to pass through,” said the 65-year-old.
Checks by The Star revealed that about a dozen of cars, motorcycles and lorries had to turn back yesterday.
A lorry driver who wanted to retrieve some tents was also denied access to the site.
The rescuers, meanwhile, were still feeling emotionally drained from the operation.
Hulu Selangor Fire and Rescue Department head Ahmadi Muhamad Hasan, for one, said he could still hear the cries of the families asking rescuers to find their missing children and parents.
“We could only tell them we would try our best.
“I had tears in my eyes when I saw some of the survivors,” he told Astro Awani.
“The emotions at ground zero are sometimes severely challenging, especially when we failed to find any victim or new indications,” he said on Sunday.
In addition to digging and excavation works involving excavators, rescue workers with tracking dogs had to search the same area many times.
“For the rescue team, finding a victim was the most effective medicine for our fatigue,” he said.
A total of 61 people were rescued and the last of the 31 dead – 18 adults and 13 children, including a one-year-old baby – was found on Saturday.
In total, 20 bodies were found in Sector A (hillview), one in Sector B (farmview) and another 10 in Sector C (riverside).
At noon on Sunday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani officially ended the SAR operation.
