Twenty-four people, many of them children, were buried alive when a landslide hit an orphanage in Kampung Gahal, Hulu Langat, near Kuala Lumpur today.   

As of 8pm, about five hours later, villagers and rescuers had pulled out eight injured children and an adult and recovered the bodies of five children of Rumah Anak-Anak Yatim dan Anak-Anak Hidayah Madrasah Al-Taqwa, police said.      

The child survivors were aged between 11 and 17 and the 22-year-old adult is believed to be a worker at the orphanage. The dead children were aged between 11 and 14.

The survivors were rushed to Kajang Hospital, Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah told a news conference.

He said the orphanage, located close to a hill, had 49 occupants, five of them caretakers. All the residents of the orphanage are male.

When the landslide struck at 2.30pm, all the residents were in a camp erected near the orphanage for an event scheduled at 5pm.

The debris from the landslide covered the whole camp erected on the hillside.

A surau was also hit by the landslide.

Two simultaneous landslides

"We understand that two landslides occurred within seconds of each other. All of them in the camp were trapped," Tun Hisan said at the scene.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar, when interviewed by Astro Awani, said the search and rescue operation involved 200 personnel from the Fire and Rescue Department, the Special Search and Rescue Team Malaysia (Smart), Civil Defence Department and the police.

"The search and rescue operation will continue until all victims have been found despite the darkness and rain," he said.

Meanwhile, Khalid asked members of the public to stay away from the landslide site to avoid any undesired incident besides facilitating rescue workers in carrying out their work.   

"So far, I understand there is still earth movement detected because of the rain. As such, I urge members of the public living nearby and wishing to see the situation, to stay away from the site of the tragedy.

"We fear that other undesired incidents may occur," he said.

On the status of the orphanage, Khalid said that at the moment the police wanted to concentrate on the rescue operations first while the status of the orphanage would be investigated later.

- Bernama