KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — The search and rescue (SAR) operation at the Father’s Organic Farm campsite in Gohtong Jaya, near Batang Kali, which entered its sixth day yesterday, led to the discovery of the body of a man.
The discovery of the body at 11.16am in Sector B (Farmview camp) takes the death toll from the tragedy to 26.
The man’s body was found buried under 1.5-metre debris in the sector, hugging a dog.
The rescue team also found the remains of another dog not far from the victim and the remains of both canines have been handed over to the Veterinary Services Department for further action.
With the latest discovery, seven people are still missing while 61 survived out of the overall total of 94 victims involved in the 2.42am incident on Friday (December 16).
Yesterday’s operation was intensified by digging deeper to find the remaining victims after taking into account the body of the 25th victim, a girl, who was on Tuesday found at an “unexpected” depth of about 17 metres in Sector C (Riverside).
Four Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) detectors, which were used for the first time to detect human bodies in Malaysia, were brought to the scene of the tragedy here to help the SAR operation.
According to the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), based on input from Geoventure Solution Sdn Bhd and the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM), the accuracy of the GPR is, however, affected by the uneven and unstable surfaces as well as moist soil.
According to Nadma, the situation could cause the data of the sophisticated equipment to be less accurate.
Apart from that, a call to prayer or ‘azan’ was performed by a member of the Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) before starting the SAR operation for seven more victims yesterday.
Meanwhile, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani police is in the process of matching the data of the victims still missing in the tragedy with the police reports lodged by the family members and next of kin.
He was also confident that the next of kin (of the victims) will come forward to lodge a report of any family members yet to be identified or believed to still be missing.
Yesterday’s operation, however, was slightly affected when it had to be postponed from 4pm due to heavy rain before the whole operation was suspended at 10pm due to unfavourable weather and safety reason.
The SAR operation will resume at 8 am today (December 22).
— Bernama
