All that’s left: The remains of an under-construction home after it was hit with a landslide at Kampung Bukit Apit in Ajil, Terengganu. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: Cries were heard from the landslide in Ajil, near Hulu Terengganu, but there was little that witnesses could do.
Danial Arabi, 36, one of the first to witness the incident in Kampung Bukit Apit, described hearing loud noises and cries for help around 5pm on Friday.
“I was resting when I was jolted awake by a loud bang.
“Rushing outside, I saw a landslide that had crushed three houses, including one occupied by a family of six,” he said.
“I heard the victims calling for help, but I couldn’t do anything because I didn’t know where they were at the time.”
According to Danial, he saw a victim crushed by the landslide and called the police and the Fire and Rescue Department to report the incident.
At least three victims were reportedly trapped in the landslide.
Puteri Sajidah Azman, 16, and her sister, Siti Fatimah, 13, perished in the incident.
Meanwhile, in Kelantan, a one-year-old boy drowned after falling into floodwaters at his home in Kampung Cherang Melintang, Tumpat.
Kelantan police chief Comm Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat said the victim was with his mother on the upper floor of their two-storey house, which was affected by floods.
He said the incident occurred at 11.30pm on Thursday when the mother noticed that the boy was no longer asleep be her side and found him floating in the floodwaters on the lower floor of the house.
“The victim’s mother noticed that the coffee table, which was used to block the staircase to the lower level, had been moved,” he said in a special press conference at the Disaster Operations Control Centre at the Repek police station yesterday, Bernama reported.
“The mother then called her husband and was assisted by neighbours to take her child in a boat to the Kubang Panjang Bridge, and subsequently to Hospital Tumpat, where the child was pronounced dead.”
Comm Mohd Yusoff said the victim’s family had been instructed to evacuate earlier but refused to do so.
“This is an example of the stubbornness and negligence of flood victims who refuse to evacuate when ordered.
“Some people are reluctant to leave their homes, belongings and so on.
“Why don’t you want to move when arrangements for housing, food and other necessities have already been made? We don’t want this kind of behaviour,” he said.
He also said that although the weather forecast predicts the rain will subside, it should be noted that water will flow downstream, affecting parts of Tumpat and Pasir Mas.
The toddler was the third flood victim in Kelantan, following a 35-year-old man who was electrocuted and a 64-year-old man who is believed to have drowned in Machang.
