Everything happened so fast, says site worker

GEORGE TOWN: “Everything happened so fast. My mind was blank and I was so frightened,” Bangladeshi construction worker Mohamad Josim Rahman said when recounting his experience during Saturday’s landslide at a housing project in Tanjung Bungah.

Mohamad Josim said he tried to keep calm and move aside the soil that was crashing down on them.

“Luckily, the force of the impact pushed me to safety and I was not buried like the others. That’s how I survived,” he said yesterday.

He was among three lucky work ers who managed to escape the landslide.

The others were Myanmar national Gearsudin Sadul Haq and another unidentified foreign worker.

Mohamad Josim said he was operating a water pump when the soil of the hill suddenly collapsed.

Saturday’s landslide claimed the lives of 11 people, including his brother Muhammad Monirul Islam, 26, and supervisor Yuan Kuok Wern, 27.

Another worker, who wished to be known only as Alwin, 50, said everything happened in less than one minute.

“I was standing at the other side of the construction site and suddenly, I heard a loud bang.

“The workers outside the affected area were screaming at us,” he said at his hostel.

Alwin said Yuan was a good boss who taught him a lot.

“I don’t know if I can still get my salary. I don’t know what I should do next,” he added.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Teik Granite Quarry declined to comment on the incident.

“This incident has nothing to do with us, okay? So sorry, no comment,” he said when contacted.

The search and rescue operation ended at noon yesterday.

The bodies of Yuan and Muhammad Monirul were recovered from the debris at 7.03am and 7.13am respectively.

The operation, which began on Saturday at 9am, involved 380 personnel from the Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Force, Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) Putrajaya, Rela and medical teams.

I was standing at the other side of the construction site and suddenly, I heard a loud bang. The workers outside the affected area were screaming at us.

Alwin