THE number of bodies found on the second day of the search-and-rescue operation (SAR) for victims of the water surge in Jeram Air Putih, Chukai today is four and not seven as informed earlier.

Terengganu police chief Mazli Mazlan said the confusion was due to a communication snag between the search location and the operation control centre at the Air Putih police station.

“So as of today, we have found six bodies, and they have been confirmed by victims’ kin or families. Yesterday, we found two and today, we found four, the remaining four victims are still missing,” he told a press conference in Chukai this evening.

“The search team at the location is facing communication problem because the devices are not functioning properly due to the thick forest and undulating terrain.”

He said the operation was halted at 5pm as there were indications of heavy rain in the upper part of the forest.  

Mazli said the SAR operation would resume tomorrow.

Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar said the operations control centre was receiving information from time to time from the Malaysian Meteorological Department on the weather condition at the search location.

“We don’t want to conduct the search in bad weather as another water surge could occur. So as advised by Terengganu police chief just now, we are temporarily stopping the SAR operation and would resume when the situation permits,” he said.

“We are at a critical moment to complete the search for the victims of this tragedy because we know that after 48 hours, the bodies will decompose and make it difficult to physically search for the bodies.

Asked whether the state government will set up a special committee to investigate the tragedy, Samsuri said the matter would be discussed in a meeting of the state government on Wednesday.

“We will look comprehensively and not only in Kemaman as there are danger warning notices put up at other areas of rapids and advice to watch out for the weather… so we will look again into the effectiveness of the notices and see if another form of supervision is necessary,” he said.

Today, four bodies have been found, namely Karim Abdullah, 39; Putri Aryana Umaira Karim, 4; Muhammad Haziq Ziqree Karim, 6; and Putri Nurerina Natasya Karim, 10.

All the bodies have been taken to Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital in Kuala Terengganu for a post-mortem, including the bodies of Azizah Eiyi, 40, and Muhammad Zulqarnain Haikal Karim, 11, who were found by the public yesterday.

With the discovery and confirmation of the identity of the six bodies, the search team will focus on finding four more victims, namely Putri Balqis Izzati Abdul Rahman, 18; Putri Alleya Maisarah Karim, 16; Putri Nor Fatin Karim, 14; and Muhammad Fikri Saliman, 24.

Yesterday, the media reported that 10 people, with nine of them from the same family, died in the incident. – Bernama, July 3, 2023.