Tanjung Bungah landslide: Three more bodies recovered, five still missing

GEORGE TOWN: Three more bodies were dug out at what is believed to be the worst ever landslide incident to inundate Penang, making it six, the number of bodies found so far.
They were all foreign migrant workers – mostly Bangladeshis, Myanmar nationals, Indonesians, as well as a Rohingya.
The rescue operation started early this morning at 4am, after officed stumbled upon evidence of scattered safety helmets and gears around an area which is the size of half a football field.
Search work was halted at 8pm yesterday due to poor visibility at the site, Lembah Permai, Tanjung Bungah, said George Town District police head Asst Comm Anuar Omar.
As of 8am, five persons remained listed as missing, including a Malaysian project supervisor Yuan Kuok Wern, aged, 27, who started working at the site two weeks ago.
As the blame game started between various quarters, over how such a tragedy could have unfolded, rescue personnel pondered about how best to locate the victims.
Led by the elite Malaysian Special Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART), they frantically dug through tonnes of rubble.
The weather was clear for an all out effort to be made to locate the victims
Family and friends of the victims, holding on to hope, were outside the site, as recuers workers plough through an avalanche of debris, soil, rocks, boulders and dirt.
The sole Malaysian trapped in the rubble studied at the nearby Tunku Abdul Rahman College and he was also reportedly a top junior badminton player.
Tanjung Bungah assemblyman The Yee Cheu urged people to pray and hope for the best.
But hope fades, as victims could have been buries for as long as 24 hours.