Auxiliary rescue team to be based on Gunung Tahan

KUANTAN: The Fire and Rescue Department is setting up an auxiliary team at Gunung Tahan to facilitate search and rescue operations at Peninsular Malaysia’s highest mountain.

Its director- general Datuk Mohammad Hamdan Wahid said the team, comprising local mountain guides, would be stationed at Merapoh and Kuala Tahan.

“They will be given an allowance and basic training,” he told reporters after attending a programme with retired firemen on Thursday.

He said Gunung Tahan mountain guides who were keen to be part of the team can register themselves with the state Fire and Rescue Department.

On a separate matter, Mohammad Hamdan said they submitted recommendations on various improvements to avoid fatal accidents.

He said the recommendations were made as part of the investigation into the death of six firemen who drowned during a mining pool rescue mission in Puchong early last month.

“We proposed improvements in the standard operating procedures and trainings,” he said.

However, he declined to elaborate on the report as an independent inquiry was handling the probe.

In the incident on Oct 3, the firemen from the department’s Water Rescue Unit, conducted a search and rescue mission to find a teenager who had fallen into a mining pool at Taman Putra Perdana, Puchong in Selangor.

However, Mohd Fatah Hashim, 34, Izatul Akma Wan Ibrahim, 32, Mazlan Omarbaki, 25, Yahya Ali, 24, Adnan Othman, 33, and Muhammad Hifdzul Malik Shaari, 25, drowned before they could find the victim.

In another development, Mohammad Hamdan said the department continued to take care of its personnel even after they had retired through the retired firemen’s association in Pahang, Johor, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

“Through such associations, we are able to contribute continuously to the welfare of firemen,” he said.