SIX victims in yesterday’s landslide in Penang have been accounted for. 

Three were dead and three injured, said Putrajaya rescue operations branch chief Morni Mamat.

The dead are a Bangladeshi man aged 35, an Indonesian teen, 19, and a Myanmar woman, 33,

The three injured are two Indonesian women, one of them pregnant, and a Bangladeshi man who suffered a broken leg.

“Three (more) are believed to still be buried. The chances of finding them alive are slim,” Morni said in a brief interview at the disaster site in Paya Terubong this morning. 

The missing are two Indonesians and a Bangladeshi. 

Morni said it was not possible to predict how how long rescuers would take to locate the remaining victims but added that the search would continue around the clock. 

The landslide occurred just before 2pm yesterday at the paired road construction site in Jalan Paya Terubong. 

Several foreign labourers inside containers on a hill clearing were killed when the landslide brought the structures crashing down the slope.

Northeast district police chief Assistant Commissioner Che Zamani Che Awang in an earlier press conference urged the media not to speculate on the total number of victims. 

After the landslide yesterday, it was reported more than 10 people were affected. 

“It happened before Friday prayers. Many had gone to pray and might not have returned to the site after learning of the incident. So, verification could not be made at the time.”

He said the authorities needed other construction workers to volunteer information on whether their colleagues had gone missing. 

“We are using the canine unit in the search. There are spots of interest.”

Penang Island City Council mayor Yew Tung Seang said the search operation was challenging due to heavy rain until 6am this morning. 

“We had to pause to re-strategise about 5am. Water gushed down from the hill due to the rain. 

“We started again about 8am. We added more heavy machinery, like excavators, to speed up the search,” he said. 

Yew also said the council was waiting for the contractor and consultant’s report on the incident. 

The project had been issued a stop-work order on October 13 after a number of construction beams collapsed at another section of the project. The collapse was reportedly caused by a worker accidentally knocking off the beams while manning the crane. 

“But there was no activity going on at the site yesterday,” he said. 

On whether the council would compensate the victims and their families since the road project belonged to the council, Yew said it was still too early to discuss the matter. – October 20, 2018.