WHILE on the way back home after his night shift ended early yesterday morning, an auditor was thanking his lucky stars that he hadn’t left work earlier.

Driving back about an hour after the 2am landslide at Azharin Rauzi, 35, wondered  why there was a huge number of police personnel in the area.

It was only when he drove closer that he saw the pile of earth blocking the Rawang-Selayang federal road in  front of him.

Azharin said: “I wasn’t aware of the incident as it was already 3am. I drove as usual but felt something amiss when the road connecting me to my home was closed off early in the morning.

“I was shocked to see the road was blocked by huge pile of earth and felt lucky that I was not there when it happened. It was a relief to know the authorities were there in the wee hours to cordon off the area as soon as they were notified of the incident.”

As his wife was sound asleep at home, she was also clueless about what had happened until morning.

“She did not know what happened until she heard some people talking about the incident.”

Meanwhile, a security guard, Darmawi Binuan, 63, who was among the first at the landslide location, said he heard a loud noise coming from outside of his house early in the morning.

“I thought that someone was trying to steal some scaffolding when he heard some more noise outside my house. I went outside with my wife to investigate but couldn’t see a thing as it was too dark. Then, I heard police sirens. I walked further and that’s when I saw the landslip.”

But, despite the incident happening next to his apartment block, A. Veera, 25, said it was so quiet that the landslide didn’t even disturb his sleep. He only realised the area was full of rescue team personnel the next morning when he was just about to open his shop.

“I heard nothing. I only knew about it when I saw so many people on the road and police were everywhere. A friend of mine told me that a landslide had occurred next to our apartment in the early morning.

Thank God no one was injured.”

Meanwhile, Selayang Fire and Rescue Department chief Yamin Tenor confirmed that no fatalities occurred during the incident. He said that 31 rescue workers, including nine personnel from the K9 dog unit, were deployed to the scene. The rescue team’s search for any victims trapped under the fallen soil proved negative.

“We conducted the search three times, first at 5am, then at 9am. We searched again at noon and the result was the same. We did the search with the help of the K9 unit and the SMART team.”

Yamin added that the cleaning process will continue until the mess is cleared. He estimated that the cleaning process will be completed by 7am today.

“We hope to speed up the cleaning process with the help from Public Works Department. We will inform the police once our work is done and to get their clearance before we open the road to the public,” he said.

Free meals for rescue workers

 

WHILE rescue workers and a cleanup team were busy at the landslide area at the Rawang-Selayang road
yesterday, another group of 10 was also busy — providing free refreshments for them.

 

The group from Restoran Ali Maju was busy preparing roti canai, nasi ayam bukhara and mango juice for everyone on the scene. The stall was already serving the rescue unit as early as 7.30am and will continue providing the service until the clean-up effort is over.

Asbar Ali, the stall manager told Malay Mail that he only knew about the landslide at 6am when he was about to start on his morning shift.

“I was told by my brother that a landslide had occurred early in morning in Selayang. He then asked me if it’s okay for me to set up a stall at the location. I agreed without thinking twice.”

The stall’s servings were a hit as the sun’s rays beat down on everyone at the location. The endless supply
of mango juice helped quench thirsts while over 500 pieces of roti canai had been served by 4pm.

“This is not my first time setting up stall to support rescue teams. During the Bukit Antarabangsa incident, my staff were there too to prepare food. During this kind of a mission, everyone is busy and they don’t have time to think about food.

I am just here to help out in my own way by providing them with food and drinks,” said Asbar.

Stop work order yet to be issued

THE Selayang Municipal Council has yet to issue a stop work order for the hillside development near
yesterday’s landslide in Rawang.

Council public relations officer Helda Shima said the stop work order cannot be issued without an
in-depth investigation.

“We are aware of the Works Minister’s order to stop work immediately. However, we are unable to issue the notice until a full investigation is completed.

This is to avoid any legal suits from the developers,” Helda explained. There are two different developers carrying out construction on the hillslope when it collapsed.

The landslide occured when the 100-metre hillslope at Taman Sierra collapsed around 2am yesterday.

Helda added: “The council’s engineering department is working together with the Works Department to complete the full report as soon as possible to determine the cause of the landslide.

“A preliminary report was done yesterday morning and a full report should be completed by tomorrow (today). Once we have concluded the report, we will duly serve the stop work order.”

A special task force from MPS visited the scene immediately early yesterday morning once they were notified and provided necessary assistance to Works Department staff, who were busy clearing the debris.

MPS also provided portable toilets and helped remove some of the fallen soil.