By Sheeda Fathil
AMPANG JAYA, March 11 — The state government has announced an RM10,000 aid to the families of victims who died in the landslide incident at Taman Bukit Permai 2, here.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said assistance will be given to the next-of-kin of the victims who died first before being channelled to other victims who were also affected by the incident.
“So far, we will focus on giving a contribution of RM10,000 to the next-of-kin whose family members have died.
“For the houses and other victims who were also affected, we will identify the assistance that will be given, as for now, we want to ensure the situation here is safe and the houses can be reoccupied,” he said.
He told this to the media after visiting the landslide area today.
Earlier, Menteri Besar was briefed on the incident by officers from the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council as well the Fire and Rescue Department.
Yesterday, a landslide incident at Taman Bukit Permai 2, Ampang here claimed four lives and caused minor injuries to one person besides damaging 15 houses and 10 vehicles.
The search and rescue (SAR) operation for the five victims began as soon as nine firemen from the Pandan Fire and Rescue station arrived at the scene after receiving a distress call at 5.54pm.
The first victim, an 84-year-old man was pulled out at 6.54pm. He escaped with minor injuries but his wife, however, was found dead at 7.53pm before her body was pulled out at 9.15pm.
About an hour and a half after that, at 10.58pm, the body of the third victim, a male resident, was extricated from the debris.
The SAR operation ended at 2am after Ampang Jaya district police chief ACP Mohamad Farouk Eshak confirmed that rescuers had found the bodies of the last two victims, both males, one of whom was a worker of Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor).
Their bodies were found at 12.46am and 1.59am respectively.
