KUALA KUBU BARU: A serene afternoon at Lata Jebus turned into a desperate race against time when a sudden water surge swept away eight people near the Sungai Pertak waterfall on Monday.
The wall of water struck without warning at about 5.30pm, carrying heavy logs and debris down the riverbed.
Among those caught in the panic was B. Partiban, 27, who had arrived at the waterfall shortly after to join his relative, 36-year-old V. Vijayan, and a group of foreign friends.
“The water suddenly surged,” Partiban said. “It was flowing so fast that we could only stand there and watch.”
Partiban and three friends managed to scramble to higher ground as the river level rose sharply.
In the state of utter chaos that ensued, he had no idea that Vijayan had already been caught in the torrential current and carried away.
Another survivor, 19-year-old Yemeni student Muhammad, said there were no visible signs of danger when he and five friends arrived at the spot.
The sudden surge swept three of his companions off the riverbank, leaving one still missing.
In total, eight visitors were washed downstream – a Malaysian, a Yemeni, a Sri Lankan, a Nepalese and four Indian nationals.
A search and rescue (SAR) operation for three people still missing has since been extended to the Sungai Selangor Dam, about three kilometres from the scene.
Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant director (operations) Ashrul Riezal Asbar said search efforts were being concentrated along Sungai Luit, moving from Lata Jebus towards the dam, reported Bernama.
“The search area has been expanded to cover a stretch of about three kilometres along Sungai Luit, from the incident site to the Sungai Selangor Dam,” he told reporters at the scene.
The body of Vijayan was found near Pertak Bridge at 1.30am yesterday, about 2.7km downstream.
Four more bodies were located near Senget Bridge and a nearby suspension bridge – roughly one kilometre from Lata Jebus – by 10.12am yesterday, with their identities and nationalities remaining unconfirmed.
By noon yesterday, the four bodies were transported in a police truck from the Incident Command Post to the Sungai Buloh Hospital for post-mortem.
The SAR operation is being carried out by the Fire and Rescue Department with assistance from other rescue agencies.
