Excavator couldn't have caused Putra Heights fire - deputy minister

PARLIAMENT | The gas pipeline explosion in Putra Heights, Selangor in April could not have been caused by excavation activities nearby, according to Deputy Human Resources Minister Abdul Rahman Mohamad.

Answering a question at the Dewan Rakyat this morning, the Lipis MP dismissed the widely speculated theory, saying the pipes were buried at a depth that is unreachable by an excavator.

"What happened could not have been caused by local activities such as 'pengukuran excavator' (sic).

"There are three main pipelines at the location, and the collapse occurred in the middle one.

"According to the calculation, (the pipes are at) a depth of six metres, it is impossible for the excavator to reach (the pipes).

"It (explosion) happened because there was soil movement beneath (the pipes), so it collapsed, and when there was a spark or friction at the leakage area, it caused the explosion," Rahman said.

He was responding to a supplementary question posed by Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PN-Kuala Langat), who questioned the authorities' findings that blamed the April 1 tragedy on cyclic loading.

According to the PAS MP, there should also be an investigation into activities in the surrounding area that could have contributed to the incident.

Houses damaged, people injured

A major fire involving a Petronas gas line at 8.10am on 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. There were also reports of burn injuries among victims evacuated from the homes.

Following the incident, it was speculated that the explosion had to do with construction activities that were being carried out in an area close to the explosion site.

Several visuals had also gone viral showing heavy machinery and construction workers purportedly encroaching on the pipeline’s safety buffer zones before the fire.

However, on June 30, authorities announced the conclusion of their investigations, saying that the incident was caused by natural factors and dismissed any foul play.

Reporting by Hariz Mohd, Alyaa Alhadjri, and N Faizal Ghazali

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