The victims were mostly surprised in their sleep. Rescuers combed the ground of a Malaysian campsite on Saturday, looking for survivors and bodies after a landslide on Friday that killed 24 people, including seven children, according to a new report.
Nine people are still missing since the pre-dawn disaster at this illegal organic farm campsite near the town of Batang Kali, on the outskirts of the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
A mother and her child entwined
Officials said more than 90 people, most of them asleep, were at the location near a hill station housing a casino.
The chances of finding survivors in the mud and rubble are “slim”, said Norazam Khamis, a fire and rescue official in central Selangor state. A total of 61 people have so far been found safe and sound, authorities said. Two of the victims are “a mother and her child, entwined and buried under the ground,” Norazam Khamis told journalists on Friday.
Frequent landslides
The farm managed the campsite without a permit and risks a sanction if its responsibility in this drama is recognized by the courts. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visited the scene on Friday evening and announced that financial aid would be given to families whose loved ones were killed or injured. As a result of the tragedy, all camping and picnic spots in the state will close for a week, tweeted Amirudin Shari, chief minister of Selangor state.
Landslides are frequent in Malaysia, particularly because of the recurrent heavy rains at the end of the year. However, no episode of heavy rainfall was recorded during the night of the disaster in Batang Kali.
In 1993, a massive mudslide triggered by heavy rain caused a 12-storey residential building near the capital to collapse, killing 48 people in one of Malaysia’s worst natural disasters.