KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — Various techniques, including jetting, flushing and extracting water from the incident site, have been employed in the effort to locate an Indian woman who went missing in a sinkhole incident at Jalan Masjid India.
However, the search and rescue (SAR) operation has yet to yield any results.
A telescopic camera was used by the SAR team from last night to help locate the body of the missing Indian national, identified as G. Vijaya Lakshmi, 48, who fell into an eight-metre-deep sinkhole along Jalan Masjid India at 8.22am on August 23.
The camera equipment combines the technology found in push rod and crawler cameras and was offered free of charge by a private entity to the SAR team.
It is hoped that using the camera will help the team obtain clearer images, especially at the second manhole in the search area clogged with debris and backlog.
Earlier, Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad said it was too risky for divers to continue with the SAR operation.
This, he said, was due to several risk factors, including strong underground water currents, limited space for rescuers, and the presence of debris and hard blockages in the search area.
The government is also planning mitigation measures on the potential risk of sinkholes, which has become a public concern following the incident involving the Indian tourist.
Public Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said that the matter was brought to the Cabinet’s attention, and his ministry had decided to take immediate steps to identify high-risk areas, similar to how 2,000 landslide-prone locations were identified by the Public Works Department (JKR).
A Bernama survey at the pump station of the Indah Water Konsortium’s (IWK) Pantai Dalam plant today found that JBPM will continue to conduct twice-daily inspections of sewage and attempt to trace any leads in the search for the sinkhole victim until she is found.
Considering the sinkhole area at Jalan Masjid India is a high-risk zone, the surrounding area of Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman will be completely closed starting today to facilitate the SAR operation and soil testing work using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR).
In a statement, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) announced that the closure around Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Masjid India was necessary to ensure the safety of traders and the public.
Meanwhile, rescuers remain dedicated to finding the victim of the sinkhole incident, now in its ninth day of operations.
More than 115 officers and personnel were involved in the operation. A check by Bernama at the location at 9.30am today found that the SAR team members were already at the scene of the incident.
It is understood that in yesterday’s operation, the SAR team continued search until 4am this morning.
Meanwhile, a source close to the search operation said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2pm today.
— Bernama
