BATANG KALI, Dec 19 — Efforts to find nine more landslide victims at the campsite of Father’s Organic Farm, Gohtong Jaya near here have been stepped further with the arrival of two excavators of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) which were specially brought here today.

The two PC 210 LC-1OM heavy equipment of the Royal Army Engineers Regiment (RAJD) from Batu Cantonment Camp, in Kuala Lumpur which arrived at about 2pm caught the attention of the media and all other personnel at the incident location.

It was learned, the two varian Tracked Excavators (Med) Komatsu have just been received by the RAJD on May 31 under 2021 Rolling Plan 3 Acquisition.

The addition of two heavy machinery in this regard makes the number of excavators used in search and rescue (SAR) operations now 10.

Previously, Selangor Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) director Datuk Norazam Khamis said eight excavators were assigned to sector A and sector C for dredging and earthmoving work, but the dredging process was carried out in stages to prevent the machinery from hitting victims.

Yesterday the rescue team also got help from the Ground Penetrating Radar tool from the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM) and the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) to help the process of detecting bodies in the ground.

On top of that, a total of 11 sniffer dogs were put on standby at the scene to assist the operation with six belonging to JBPM, four (Royal Malaysian Police) and one belonging to MAF.

The SAR operation entered the fourth day today to find the remaining nine victims who were missing in the tragedy that happened last Friday.

A total of 24 victims have been confirmed dead so far while 61 survived out of a total of 94 victims. — Bernama