Landslide near Genting: Victim thought he heard explosion, felt the earth move
BATANG KALI - Mr Leong Jim Meng was asleep in a tent in a rural farm when he thought he heard an explosion and felt the earth moving in the wee hours of Friday.
“We were sleeping when the incident happened at 2am. It was too dark to see clearly what was happening,” he told Malaysia’s Berita Harian daily.
He was among dozens who were camping in a farm under the foot of Genting Highlands for the December holidays.
The campsite, which is at Father’s Organic Farm in Batang Kali on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, had been hit by a major landslide, with more than a dozen killed and nearly 20 people still missing, the authorities said.
The local government development minister Nga Kor Ming said the campsite was operating illegally.
Mr Leong’s family was initially trapped after their tent was covered with debris, but they managed to escape to a nearby parking lot. He called the authorities and they arrived 30 minutes later, he told the daily.
Berita Harian quoted Mr Leong as saying they were caught by surprise as it had not been raining heavily during the past few days, although there had been drizzles.
He said his family was trapped after their tent was covered with debris but managed to escape to a nearby parking lot. They contacted the authorities, who arrived 30 minutes later.
Like other victims who were rescued, the family was brought by the authorities to the nearby Hulu Yam Baru police station for immediate treatment for possible injuries.
The campsite is located on Jalan Batang Kali-Jalan Genting Highlands, about 4.5km from Gohtong Jaya - a town below the Genting Highlands peak.
Another victim, Teh Lynn Xuan, 22, said she had set up a tent with her family members at one of the campsites with 40 others called Zone B Hilltop. But the tent was toppled in the landslide.
Ms Teh and her mother managed to crawl to a safe space, but one of her younger brothers died while another one was sent to hospital, Berita Harian reported.
The daily quoted an employee at Father’s Organic Farm, Thawn Uk, 35, as saying that he and 12 other workers managed to escape from the site. One of them was injured in the leg and was sent to hospital.
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