Sinkhole incident: SAR resumes in morning after 17-hour search finds only victim's slippers

KUALA LUMPUR - Rescuers looking for the Indian tourist who fell into a sinkhole that opened up at her feet in Jalan Masjid India here could only find a pair of slippers belonging to her near the location after almost 17 hours of searching yesterday (Aug 23).

Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa said the slippers were found floating in the excavated area in the morning of the incident.

"We took a long time to look for the victim and the scuba team also entered the location... currently (the victim) has yet to be found.

"We searched 100 per cent of the area where the victim fell,” he said at the media conference at the incident location slightly after midnight.

Fire and Rescue Department Firefighting and Rescue Operations Division director Nordin Pauzi, Dang Wangi district police chief ACP Sulizme Affendy Sulaiman and Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) chief executive officer Narendran Maniam were also present at the media conference.

Rusdi said that the search and rescue operation (SAR) had to be suspended at 12.30am and will resume at 9am as heavy rain and the dark environment complicated rescue efforts.

The rescue team also faced various challenges, including strong currents, gas and sewerage that could endanger the scuba team, he added.

He stressed that the location around the area was safe but advised the public to reduce movement in the area.

"We will tighten controls at the location and the public is reminded to reduce movement and to be cautious,” he added.

Meanwhile Narendran said that IWK would assist the search by opening up every sewer manhole along a seven-kilometre stretch of the sewer line that ended at the treatment plant in Pantai Dalam here.

"We will go to the end and open up every manhole and we will check them all. We have started since noon today but have found nothing yet.

"If we did, the victim would have been stuck at the inter pump station but there is nothing so far,” he said, adding that it was possible for a human body to be carried away in the sewer line as it had a diameter of 1.5 metres and was over 3 metres in diameter at the end.

"It is really a big pipe as it carries all the sewerage around Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

The victim, known as Vijayaletchumy, 48, from Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, India, was walking with her family through an area in front of the Malayan Mansion, Jalan Masjid India before she fell into a sinkhole that had opened up under her at about 8.20am yesterday. - BERNAMA