KUCHING, March 26 — The body of Martin Mat Tapa, 25, has finally been extricated from a tunnel in Gunung Tabai in Bau at 6.25pm today almost three days after he was crushed by a boulder.

Bau district police chief DSP Poge Nyaon, when contacted, said the body had been brought to the Bau Hospital for post mortem.

The deceased had gone to the tunnel on Tuesday with two others to mine for gold. In the early hours of the following day, the rock fell on Mat and with his dying breath he pleaded to his companions to flee to safety when they tried to move the rock.

The two men who survived then alerted Mat’s family, who in turn alerted the authorities. A search and rescue operation involving firefighters and villagers was launched on Wednesday morning.

Mat’s body was found at 4.30pm on the first day of the operation but rescue workers could not immediately recover his body due to the unstable condition inside the tunnel.

The deceased’s family was prepared to accept that the tunnel would be his final resting place.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) chairman Datu Len Talif Salleh said they were planning to appoint honorary wildlife rangers or guards among the locals to prevent people from encroaching into Gunung Tabai to mine for gold.

"We have no plans to post wildlife rangers or guards there, but we have erected proper signages there. We will try to find out how, probably use local honorary wildlife rangers and guards to oversee that area as well.

"We have to educate the locals to be aware of the danger it poses,” Len Talif, who is the Assistant Minister of Urban Development and Resources, told reporters after an event.

He pointed out that Gunung Tabai was under jurisdiction of SFC and there was hardly any gold left there to be mined.

He added that the company which was previously licensed by the state government to operate in the area was actually involved in quarrying and not gold mining.

"The license ended 17 years ago and we are not giving anymore quarry licence for the area. It’s a sensitive area because of the wildlife and limestone caves,” said Len Talif. — Borneo Post