Two people were killed and the driver of the car they were in injured after debris from building being demolished fell on their moving vehicle.

Two passengers were killed and a car driver injured last night in Ipoh after a dilapidated building collapsed on their vehicle at about 9.30pm last night.

pre war houses collapse ipoh 031009 rubble The 7-seven double-storey shop-houses lot in Fairpark were being demolished by a contractor when the front portion collapsed on the road onto the victims.

The incident occured near the Jalan Kamaruddin and Jalan Anderson traffic lights T-junction which is a stone's throw away from the Raja Permuisuri Bainun Hospital (formerly known as he Ipoh General Hospital).

It is believed that the incident occurred when the contractor had started to demolish the back portion of the shop-house lot yesterday, which led to the front portion collapsing along Jalan Kamaruddin.

pre war houses collapse ipoh 031009 abdul rahim ariff Council secretary Rahim Md Ariff ( left ) said, "We will investigate this incident under the Drainage, Street and Building Act 1976 and uniform building by-law 1980 and we will take action against the contractor if he has breached any of the laws."

When asked whether it is the duty of the council to supervise such building demolitions, he replied, "No! It is the responsibility of the consultant of the building to ensure all the safety measures and precautions are taken and he will be responsible for any untoward incident."

Rahim said the redevelopment plans for the collapsed site was approved three months ago.

Falling debris

The two killed by the falling debris are council canteen helper Ahmad Zain Md Sabri, 25, and petrol pump station cashier Mohd Firdaus Md Norzila, 23 while the injured driver is Abdil Kudus Ismail, 21, a computer technician.

Narrating the incident at the hospital, Abdil said that he was driving the car and had slowed down near the T-junction traffic lights, when without any warning, in a split second, the pre-war building collapsed and he blacked out.

"Upon regaining conscious, I found my two friends lying motionless and then I broke the front window screen and called out for help. I was rescued and admitted for slight bruises to my head and hand in the out-patient ward," he sorrowfully stated.

The remains of the other two victims were sent for post-mortem reports to the hospital.

pre war houses collapse ipoh 031009 kong chor har Meanwhile, upon hearing of the incident Lumut MP and Housing and Local Government Minister Kong Cho Ha ( photo, right ) rushed from Lumut by helicopter to Ipoh and inspected the site.

"We want to find out whether proper and correct procedures were taken for the redevelopment plans by the developer. Also, we want to find out whether the correct method was used, in the demolition process," he said.

Kong instructed the council to immediately order a stop-work order until the investigation into the collapse of the block of shop-houses is completed.

He also said that the police are looking into possible criminal elements in the demolition process.

He expects all the reports over this incident from the various department, including the Department of Occupational safety and Health (DOSH), to be handed to him by Monday.