JBPM holds azan before landlside SAR operation begins

BATANG KALI, Dec 21 (Bernama) -- A call to prayer or ‘azan’ was held before the start of the search and rescue (SAR) operation for seven more victims of the landslide tragedy at Fathers' Organic Farm camping site, Gohtong Jaya, here.

The latest ritual was practised by the SAR team after digging for the past five days.

"The call to prayer was performed by a member of the Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) before starting the SAR operation today,” Selangor Fire and Rescue Department Operations assistant director Hafisham Mohd Noor told Bernama at the on-scene command post (PKTK), here today.

The search operation, which has now entered its sixth day, managed to find the body of an adult man at 11.16 am in sector B (Farmview).

The SAR operation was temporarily suspended since about 4 pm today due to heavy rain.

Meanwhile, a Klang District Civil Defence Force (APM) volunteer who was touched by the grief of a neighbour after losing his 11-year-old daughter in the landslide tragedy, decided to join the search and rescue (SAR) operation in Batang Kali.

Jeremy Chew, 49, who is an entrepreneur, temporarily left his freight forwarding and shipping business to report for duty as early as 3 am today.

"When I heard my neighbour's daughter was a victim, I was overcome with sadness. I can't imagine if this tragedy happened to my own family members," he told Bernama when met at the PKTK here today.

Chew, who has joined the APM Volunteers for the past few years, said participating in the SAR was a new and challenging experience for him.

The landslide tragedy which occurred at 2.42 am last Friday at Father's Organic Farm campsite has so far recorded 61 survivors, 26 deaths and seven more victims still missing out of a total of 94 people.

-- BERNAMA