RESCUERS at the Father’s Organic Farm landslide in Gohtong Jaya today faced a new challenge in their search and rescue (SAR) efforts to locate nine more victims who are still missing.

Besides soft ground, the rescuers are also faced with squelchy soil as deep as 16 metres.

“The depth is the highest recorded so far because of the rain yesterday,” said Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant director (operations) Hafisham Mohd Noor said 

In the 2.42am incident Friday, a landside measuring almost 300 metres long and 70 metres high came crashing onto the campsite located along the Jalan Genting-Batang Kali.

As of noon today, nine victims are still missing while 24 out of 94 people who were at the campsite died in the tragedy.

Hafisham said today’s SAR, which started at 8am, involved 135 rescuers from various agencies focused their search on Sector C (Riverside) and Sector A (Hillview) and areas where SAR efforts have not begun.

“We will dig until we reach the bottom and separate the excavated soil to another spot. I hope the effort will show results as yesterday we were a bit disappointed because despite our efforts we still failed to locate any missing victims,” he said.

Speaking to reporters at the scene of the tragedy today, he said rescue teams also used eight excavators and several K9 dogs belonging to the Fire and Rescue Department, the police and the Malaysian Armed Forces  to assist in the search operations.

To ensure the safety of the rescuers on the field, Hafisham said a safety officer position has been created to monitor any soil movement or landslip.

“The safety officer will blow his whistle to alert all personnel at ground zero (field) to move out of the area in case of an emergency.

“We were informed yesterday by the Survey and Mapping Department that the risk of another landslide happening was low. With that information, we are confident to proceed with our work today,” he said. – Bernama, December 19, 2022.