THE body of Chin Hsien Loong, one of three men who died in the Tuesday explosion at a Kuching mall, will be repatriated to Penang today.

Sarawak Health Department director Dr Jamilah Hashim, in the latest bulletin on the CityOne mall blast, said the post mortem on the 29 year-old Chin from Taman Kambar, Butterworth, was completed yesterday afternoon and his family has claimed the body. 

The relatives have also claimed the bodies of O Kui Lim, 49, of Batu Kawa and Tchee Kiam Jong, 24, of BDC Stutong.

Chin and Tchee are believed to the employees of the Korean fast food franchise restaurant Nene that was to have opened for business yesterday while O was employed by the contractor renovating the restaurant.

The restaurant was undergoing its finishing touches when the blast occurred. The three dead men who were working in the kitchen were killed when a concrete wall collapsed on them.

Three other persons were pulled out alive from under the concrete debris.

Dr Jamilah said 10 of the 31 wounded who were warded in the Sarawak general hospital have been discharged.

The remainder and five more admitted to Borneo Medical Centre, a private hospital are in stable condition, she said.

They were being treated for burns of varying degrees, respiratory problems, bone fracture, muscle and tissue injuries, and cuts.

Investigators suspect the blast was caused by a LPG gas leak in the kitchen of Nene restaurant. – December 6, 2018.