‘Mother urged us to save her child first’: Malaysia landslide first responder’s account of search and rescue efforts

Experienced as he was, Malaysian first responder Firdaus Samad still reacted with disbelief when he received an initial report on Friday (Dec 16) about a landslide hitting the Father’s Organic Farm campsite in Batang Kali town, near Genting Highlands.

The sheer number of people caught in the disaster – earlier established as around 100 before confirmed to be 94 – struck the 17-year veteran of the Civil Defence Force’s Hulu Selangor district, as he and his colleagues made their way to the site of the incident to begin search and rescue operations.

‘When I was on duty at the Hulu Selangor district operations centre, we received a call from the Malaysia Emergency Response Services 999 about the incident at around 2.30am,’ said Firdaus.

‘I immediately contacted the fire and rescue station for confirmation as I could not believe that the number of victims had been 100 people.

‘After receiving confirmation from the authorities including the police, I and six other personnel rushed to the incident site,’ he told Bernama.

He said rescue efforts were already under way when they arrived, with personnel from other security teams spread out across the area and responding to calls for help – in the darkness – from victims.

For more information, go to www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-landslide-first-responder-search-rescue-genting-highlands-batang-kali-3152926