Pipeline fire: Take a break, PAS info chief tells Selangor MB

Summary

• PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari mockingly tells Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari to take a break.

• He says Amirudin’s labelling of PAS as a defamatory party does not solve the problem of the menteri besar’s earlier denial of an excavator near the Putra Heights pipeline that caught fire.

PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari mockingly urged Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari to take a break.

He was responding to Amirudin, who said the Islamist party practices defamation and manipulation of facts.

Amirudin’s statement labelling PAS as a slanderous party does not solve the problem of the menteri besar’s earlier denial of an excavator’s presence near the gas pipeline in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya, Selangor that caught fire, Fadhli (above) added.

“With this response from the Selangor menteri besar, I think it is better for him to go on vacation.

“Take a period of time to calm down, make a TikTok video. Leave it to the police and other related departments to make the next statement.

“If this is the menteri besar’s response, the people will have more respect for the statements of civil servants,” Fadhli said on social media.

His Facebook post included a screenshot of Amirudin responding to a post by Menteri Besar Selangor Incorporated (MBI) Foundation head Ahmad Azri Zainal Nor.

Azri said Amirudin initially denied there was an excavator at the pipeline explosion site, as it had sunk underground.

In a press conference yesterday, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan confirmed that excavation works to replace a sewage pipe were conducted at an area at least 30m from the site of the incident.

The works, which ended on March 30, involved the use of a backhoe and an excavator, the latter of which he said fell into the crater during the massive explosion.

He said further investigation will determine whether the digging activities caused the explosion.

‘Take a deep breath’

Meanwhile, Fadhli said Amirudin should have accepted eyewitness accounts from residents who said the excavator was present before the incident.

“True, the eyes of the Selangor menteri besar do not have sensors to see the buried machinery, but it would be good if, from the beginning, he openly accepted the claims of some residents who witnessed the existence of the machinery until the last moment before Hari Raya,” he said.

He sarcastically advised Amirudin to “calm down, be patient, and take a deep breath”.

A major fire involving a Petronas gas line at 8.10am on Tuesday (April 1) saw flames rise to a height of more than 30m with temperatures reaching 1,000 degrees Celsius, transforming the landscape of the area into a large crater.

The incident also destroyed rows of homes and property within a 500m radius.

On April 3, Amirudin said 87 houses and premises have been declared a “total loss” while 148 other homes can be inhabited after repairs.

Amirudin said 308 families involving 1,254 victims have been identified following their registration with the Social Welfare Department. Out of the figure, 630 victims from 157 families are currently housed in two temporary relief centres.

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