Genting Highlands landslide: Body of last victim recovered

BATANG KALI, Malaysia — The body of the last victim of the deadly Batang Kali landslide was found on Saturday (Dec 24), raising the death toll to 31.

It was previously reported that the last victim, who was then still missing, was identified as Eng Shao Qi, a Year 5 student from SJKC Mun Choong.

According to the school's Parent-Teacher Association head U Chin Ong, the boy was the son of the canteen operator at the school.

The Dec 16 landslide at Father’s Organic Farm in Batang Kali, Selangor — near popular tourist destination Genting Highlands — also took the lives of the boy's father, identified as Gary Eng, and sister.

Earlier on Saturday, Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Norazam Khamis in a statement said the operation that his department spearheaded also involved 80 personnel from the Armed Forces, Civil Defence Force, and the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team.

The disaster occurred at around 2am on Dec 16, pushing 450,000 cubic meters of earth onto campsites at the farm.

Among the dead are a group of teachers and staff from SJKC Mun Choong, along with their friends and families.

The last time bodies were unearthed from the site was on Thursday, following the discovery of four bodies — a man, a woman, and two children — in a tent buried under seven metres of mud at 11.04am.

It brought the death toll at the time to 30 people out of a total of 92 victims reported being involved in the incident. The remaining 61 were rescued. NEW STRAITS TIMES