Four escape collapsing building, two rescued, one missing

KUALA BESUT: A three-storey building at a resort under construction in Pulau Perhentian, off Terengganu, collapsed early yesterday morning trapping a Malaysian and six foreign workers.

Four of them managed to scramble out of the rubble, two were rescued, and one remains missing.

Besut district police chief Supt Abdul Rozak Muhammad said the Malaysian and three Rohingya workers managed to crawl out of the debris soon after the incident at about 5am on the island, which is a 30-minute ferry ride from here.

Two Indonesian workers were rescued, he said, adding that a search-and-rescue operation has been mounted for the missing worker, also an Indonesian, Bernama reported.

Abdul Rozak identified the Malaysian as Leong, the Rohingya as Mohd Eunuh Hamid Husson, Shamsul Alam Abdul Sukur, and Mohd Rafiq, and the rescued Indonesians as Jamil, 33, and Ramli, 48.

He said the missing Indonesian is Suparno, in his 40s.

The workers were asleep in the building when it collapsed, he told reporters at the Kuala Besut jetty here.

“The three Rohingya workers and the Malaysian managed to crawl out of the rubble on their own.

“Two Indonesians were rescued, at 12.53pm and 1.18pm,” he said.

Abdul Rozak said the six workers were brought to the jetty here and then taken to Hospital Besut, and that their condition was reported to be stable.

He said the project supervisor, Liew Sin Fatt, informed the police that he heard a loud noise at that time and upon rushing out of his office, about 30m away, saw that the building had collapsed.

“Liew said it was still dark and they could not find the workers among the rubble. The police set up a control centre at the scene at 9am.

“We will carry on with the search-and-rescue operation until we find the missing worker and anyone else who could be trapped in the rubble. The cause of the building collapse has yet to be determined,” he said.

Abdul Rozak said 70 officers and personnel from various agencies, such as the police, Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Force, and marine police, were involved in the operation.

They were assisted by personnel from the Malaysian Volunteers Corps Department and Health Ministry as well as resort workers, and villagers, he said.