'Urged us to save her child first': Malaysia landslide first responder's account of search and rescue efforts

BATANG KALI, Selangor: Experienced as he was, Malaysian first responder Firdaus Samad still reacted with disbelief when he received an initial report on Friday (Dec 16) about a landslide hitting the Father's Organic Farm campsite in Batang Kali town, near Genting Highlands.

The sheer number of people caught in the disaster - earlier established as around 100 before confirmed to be 94 - struck the 17-year veteran of the Civil Defence Force's Hulu Selangor district, as he and his colleagues made their way to the site of the incident to begin search and rescue operations.

"When I was on duty at the Hulu Selangor district operations centre, we received a call from the Malaysia Emergency Response Services 999 about the incident at around 2.30 am," said Firdaus.

"I immediately contacted the fire and rescue station for confirmation as I could not believe that the number of victims had been 100 people.

"After receiving confirmation from the authorities including the police, I and six other personnel rushed to the incident site,” he told Bernama.

He said rescue efforts were already under way when they arrived, with personnel from other security teams spread out across the area and responding to calls for help - in the darkness - from victims.

"As we began to deploy for the search and rescue operation, I saw a few victims coming out of the landslide area on their own, heading towards safety. Several of them used their flashlights to signal for help,” Firdaus said.

He described people wading through ankle-deep mud, slippery conditions making it hard for rescuers to assist victims, and the underlying fear that another landslide could occur in an instant.

"There was a very sad situation when a male victim told us that his wife and child were trapped in their car that was buried by the landslide," Firdaus recounted.

"He shouted to his wife to continue to press the car horn so that we could locate her easier. We made our way in the dark through piles of earth, strewn with half-buried cars and other debris, guided by the sounds of the horn.

"Before long, we managed to find the car in question, and sure enough, his wife and child were there. The wife, even in her weak condition, urged us to save her child first," said Firdaus.

"When we managed to get to the child, I immediately held him in my arms. But it was at that moment that I realised the child had already died. It was clear he was pale, cold and did not have a pulse."

Firdaus said his long years of experience as a first responder kicked in and he and his team remained calm as they extricated the child and the mother from the car.

Malaysia's Civil Defence Force is one of five main agencies involved in search and rescue efforts in the Batang Kali landslide.

Spearheaded by the country's Fire and Rescue Team, the operation stopped at 4am Sunday morning and resumed at 9am for its third day.

As of Saturday evening, 24 people were confirmed dead with nine still missing out of a total of 94 victims, based on police information.