THE number of landslide victims in Paya Terubong, Penang, may be more than initially expected after rescuers pulled out a man not on its missing persons’ list today.

The body of a Bangladeshi, Mustak Hossain, was discovered shortly after noon today.

“The man was not on our list. There is a big possibility we will find more cases like this,” Penang Fire and Rescue Department director Saadon Moktar said today.

He said the identity of the man, whose remains were in good condition, was confirmed by his colleagues and passport.

“We cannot determine the exact number of victims. There, however, remain four still missing, based on our list.”

He earlier confirmed that two more bodies had been found. Other than Mustak, the other deceased man was identified as Mithu Hossain, also a Bangladeshi.

“They are not brothers. But they are from the same village in Bangladesh,” he said.

Saadon said both remains were found on top of one another.

“They were found a few metres from where the containers had fallen in the landslide. We believe they were not inside the containers.

“They could had been running when the incident occurred,” he said.

Saadon said rescuers were preparing to dig deeper for more victims.

“In such cases, those who fell first would be buried deeper in the soil. Mithu and Mustak were buried 4m in the earth, deeper than the victims we had found earlier,” he said.

So far, six bodies have been recovered since the landslide at the road construction project site on Friday afternoon. Only three people escaped with injuries.

Saadon said the search would continue for as long as weather conditions permitted, adding the area being searched was safe for rescuers to keep working.

“If we feel there is any risk to the operation, we will stop and seek advice. Otherwise, we expect to continue into the night.” – October 21, 2018.