Malaysian landslide search efforts resume for 12 missing campers

Rescue workers in Malaysia continue to search for 12 people still missing following a landslide that engulfed a campsite, killing 21 others, including five children.

Rescue efforts were hampered temporarily overnight on Friday due to heavy rain but picked back up in the early morning hours on Saturday as emergency response workers scrambled to locate any signs of life or human remains.

Rescue dogs and excavators were deployed to assist the rescue workers who used shovels to sift through mud and uprooted trees in search of victims.

Survivors said they had heard a deafening boom and that the earth shook before they were buried by the landslide inside their tents. According to officials, 94 people were sleeping at the Batang Kali campground on an organic farm northeast of the capital Kuala Lumpur when part of a hillside collapsed, sending mud and trees cascading from a road about 30 meters (some 100 feet) above the site.

All the victims were reportedly sleeping at the time the landslide – which covered approximately one hectare (2.5 acres) of land – enveloped their tents.

A total of 21 bodies have been removed from the site so far. An additional seven people were hospitalized, including three Singaporean nationals.

The disaster is unfolding amid Malaysia’s monsoon season when torrential rains are known to trigger landslides in the region surrounding Kuala Lumpur.

Agencies