Man follows sound of handphone to find dead son at Bukit Antarabangsa massive landslide

Bukit Antarabangsa landslide victim Datuk Sharudin Adnan with his daughter Noreennur at HKL mortuary. Pic by AZMAN GHANI / The Star

Jasmin says: This is a classic example of greed over common sense. For years, the residents of Bukit Antarabangsa were campaigning to stop all hillside projects because the soil at this hilly area is very unstable. There has been numerous, numerous landslides. Lots of people have died in previous landslide, and now, this disaster has killed more people. What does it take to prevent the loss of life? Is life cheap?

And what's worse, a lot of people are still not moving out, maybe because they can't afford to buy another home, since they have sunk in so much of their money into this dream home of their. A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) lives at one of the apartments there said she's not leaving. She's confident that nothing will happen to her because she says her apartment is on top of a large bedrock. But the fact remains, there were a few mini landslides near her apartment, and the site of the current landslide is really too close for comfort.

Please read on

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Published: Saturday December 6, 2008 MYT 1:30:00 PM
Updated: Saturday December 6, 2008 MYT 8:03:45 PM

Taken from thestar.com.my
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/12/6/nation/20081206132932&sec=nation

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Shaharuddin Adnan had hoped for the best when he heard the ringing of his son’s mobile phone, but his hopes were dashed when all he saw was a hand sticking out from the rubble of his collapsed house holding the phone.

The 63-year-old retired businessman’s home was one of the many which were crushed by the landslide at Bukit Antarabangsa Saturday morning.

His son Shaiful Khas, 20, died in the incident. Also in his house at that time was his wife and a relative, both of whom survived the disaster.

Shaharuddin said everybody was on the top floor of his double-storey house except for his son, who was playing computer games downstairs.

“At about 3am, I heard him shout ‘Why is the house moving?’ Everything else was a blur, as the house started to fall apart and collapsed.

“When everything came to a stop, I found my wife and relative to be safe, but I could not locate Shaiful. So I decided to call him on his mobile phone and followed the ringing tone,” he said.

He found Shaiful buried under the rubble, with only his hand sticking out holding onto his mobile phone.

The rescue team came in with saws and other equipment to extract Shaiful, but he was already dead, said Shaharuddin.

Shaharuddin said he had noticed some earth movement in his housing area of late, as cracks started appearing in his fish pond.

“But they were minor, I did not think something like this would happen,” he said.

Engineer K. Thanarajah lost his wife Dr N. Yogeswary, 40, in the incident while his second son Thivesh, 10, suffered spinal injury.

Thanarajah fractured his arm, but his two other children escaped unhurt.

A relative said Yogeswary could have survived had she not rushed into Thivesh’s room to save the boy.

“Walls started crumbling, and the staircase broke, leaving them all stranded upstairs,” he said.

According to Kuala Lumpur Hospital deputy director (medical) Dr Laila Nor Ibrahim, 14 patients had been treated, with eight discharged already (as of 1pm Saturday).

She said those warded were in stable condition, including a three-month-old girl.