Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has expressed hope that Fire and Rescue Department personnel will be equipped with more effective training following the loss of six lives during a search and rescue operation last night.

Visibly saddened by the incident, Mahathir offered his condolences to the families and pledged that the government would provide assistance to them.

“We hope it will never happen again and I send my condolences to the families.

“We hope that there will be training that is more effective (so that) disasters like this won’t happen again,” he added.

Mahathir was speaking to reporters after attending the Asean Committee Meeting on Disaster Management in Putrajaya this morning.

The six divers from the Shah Alam Fire and Rescue station were involved in the search of a 17-year-old boy who had fallen into the Putra Perdana mining pond, near the La Cottage housing area in Puchong, when the tragedy struck.

The bodies of all six divers have since been retrieved but the teenager has yet to be found.

Earlier, in his opening speech at the Asean meeting, Mahathir said that the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) is currently coordinating search and rescue efforts with the Indonesian government following recent string of natural disasters in the neighbouring country.

Last Friday, the Indonesian island of Sulawesi was hit by several earthquakes and a tsunami. The death toll is said to be more than 1,200.