DG: Firemen followed SOP
> ‘Six were overcome by strong undercurrents’
SEPANG: The six firemen who drowned at a disused mining pool at Taman Putra Perdana is the fire and rescue department’s worst disaster involving its own personnel, while on a mission to rescue a missing teenager.
It was a highly dangerous mission and the rescuers had observed the standard operating procedures (SOP) of a search-andrescue mission in water and took all the necessary precautions.
The divers wore life jackets and roped their waists with each other before wading towards the gushing waterfall at chest-level waters.
The men were to form a chain along the base of the waterfall to search in pitch darkness for a 17year-old boy, who was believed to have fallen into the waters at about 5pm on Wednesday.
However, as the divers edged towards it – unaware of the strong undercurrents created by the high velocity of the falling water – all hell broke loose.
They slipped and were violently dragged into the choppy waters, struggling to stay afloat even with life vests on.
This went on for about three minutes before the fatigued divers succumbed to the turbulent water conditions.
Their colleagues quickly went to their aid and over the next 30 minutes, they were pulled out from the troubled waters. However, all six men were unconscious and attempts to revive them by paramedics were futile.
The heroic divers, who are from the water rescue unit of the Shah Alam and Port Klang stations, were identified as Yahya Ali, 24, Mazlan Omarbaki, 25, Muhammad Hifdzul Malik Shaari, 25, Izatul Akma Wan Ibrahim, 32, Adnan Othman, 33 and Mohd Fatah Hashim, 34.
Fire and Rescue Department director-general Mohammad Hamdan Wahid said the fallen firemen had observed the SOP in the search-and-rescue mission but were overcome by the violent water conditions.
He said the men had formed a human chain to sweep the bed of the mining pool in search of the victim.
Hamdan said the case will be studied and new measures will be taken to avoid recurrence of such an incident.
Despite the tragic loss of their six colleagues, firemen resumed the search for the missing teenager as early as 8am yesterday.
Sepang police chief ACP Abdul Aziz Ali said divers from the marine police unit were also assisting in the search for the missing boy.
He said the team managed to find the body of the missing teenager at 5.45pm.
Mohd Ilham Fahmy’s body was found about 800 metres from where he was last spotted.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the Selangor government ordered the Sepang Municipal Council to shut down the mining pool in Taman Putra Perdana, Puchong upon completion of the search-and-rescue operations for the missing teenager.
Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari said the closure was necessary following several drowning cases reported in the area.
“The closure will take effect as soon as the SAR operations being conducted there are completed,” he told reporters after meeting the family members of the firefighters at the Fire and Rescue Station in Section 15 yesterday.
Amirudin said he also ordered the municipal council to close the route to the mining pool, which was a popular fishing site.
He added that the Selangor government had agreed to contribute RM20,000 to each family of the firefighters who died in the incident.
Earlier, the last rites were performed on the bodies of the six firefighters at the Section 15 fire station at about 9am.
Two of the fallen firemen were from the Shah Alam fire station while the rest were from the Port Klang fire station.
Hamdan, who was also at the ceremony, said the families of the men will receive financial aid in accordance with civil servants compensation package.