Updated 11.19pm, 28 May 2009
PETALING JAYA, 28 May 2009: Part of the building which once housed the popular Jaya Supermarket in Section 14/20 collapsed this evening, killing one worker and trapping six others.
Two others were rescued and sent to the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Petaling Jaya OCPD ACP Arjunaidi Mohamad said.
All the nine victims of the 5pm incident were Indonesian workers.
The workers, who were preparing the building for demolition, were at the ground floor of the six-storey building at the time of the incident.
As of 7pm the fate of the six trapped workers were still unknown, he said.
“Search and rescue operations are underway and we have brought in sniffer dogs to locate the victims,” he said.
Among those involved in the operation are 50 police personnel, fire and rescue (30), Smart (15), Civil Defence Department (30) and Rela (30), he said.
Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said the Fire and Rescue Department was informed of the incident at about 5.08pm and arrive at the scene three minutes later.
When contacted, Civil Defence Department officer Lt Shahrul Kama Mohd Johari said the department had dispatched six ambulance cars.
UMMC deputy director (Professional) Prof Dr Jamiyah Hassan said the dead was known as Maskor, 28, while the injured were Maskor’s brother Suryano, 32, and Sale, 48.
“The two injured victims are in stable condition,” she said.
Jamiyah said 45 paramedics from three hospitals – UMMC, Sungai Buloh Hospital and Kuala Lumpur Hospital – were at the scene of the incident to provide medical assistance.
Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said the Fire and Rescue Department was informed of the incident at 5.08pm and arrived at the scene three minutes later.
When contacted, Civil Defence Department officer Lt Shahrul Kama Mohd Johari said the department had despatched six ambulance cars.
An eyewitness Syed Mohammad Aidid Syed Ahmad Aidid said he heard a loud roar like that of a thunder while driving pass the area.
“I saw dusts rising in the air and pieces of stone came crashing down on my car like a hailstorm,” he told Bernama.
Syed Mohammad Aidid, 41, said he had just left the nearby Digital Mall building to go to his office at Phileo Damansara when the Jaya Supermarket building collapsed.
“I saw in front of me several cars but they managed to escape. I just floored the accelerator but some of the rubble hit my car and dented it.
“I was shaken with fear and prayed that I would be out of harm’s way,” he said. — Bernama
See also: Fall of an icon
vendetta89 says
There will be a big fuss over the coming weeks about this issue by those people in power. Everytime when something big happens, they will start to come out with lots of noise and pointing fingers and proposing all sorts of solutions. After the wind blows away everything goes back to square one… This cycle will go on and on repeating… the same goes to the people. People tend to forget certain issues when time goes by just like the landslide, Nurin murder case, etc.
Eric says
We live within walking distance and can view the Menara Jaya disaster from our balcony. Besides mourning prayers for the 9 victims and thanking ones for the brave firefighters risking their lives to rescue the workers, a few thoughts come to mind.
1) How on earth could this happen? Building demolition is nowadays a routine exercise. The sudden collapse sounds a lot like cutting corners by the developer and their subcontractors. The fact the victims are foreigners makes me fear the possible investigations, if any (!), will pass the buck to the poor dead in the usual irresponsible fashion.
2)The disorganization of the rescue effort is very obvious. The access roads were not cut. Due to the Malaysian culture of watching accidents, rescue vehicles were blocked on the road by selfish Malaysian drivers who would simply not give way. These rescue vehicles have been trickling in from various locations for hours with an obvious lack of coordination. Surely there is no VIP here!
3) Malaysian authorities’ priorities make no sense. A few months back and within walking distance, Anti-ISA vigils were happening on private properties (MBPJ Town Hall entrance lobby), far removed from the road (nobody could see from the road) and with no violence whatsoever. The only danger was brought by unruly and low-brow polis, SB and FRU (with full-gear including shot guns) outnumbering those at the vigil by a factor of 2 or 3. The Vigils only ever involved around a hundred people at a time. Roads were cut a number of times. Once up to Amcorp mall. Obviously, a helicopter was used once in a while to cover the speeches. Contrast this with now with people actually risking death. PRDM is nowhere to be seen.
This whole event shows how BN has corrupted our institutions. I am not even talking about Perak. BN’s rot has spread all over our daily life. Look at our current expectations:
•PRDM is only meant as a repression tool.
•Control institutions (regulatory and judiciary bodies) are allegedly corrupt and unfair to the core. No justice is expected from them anymore.
By staying silent one more day, we encourage their incompetence and corruption, bringing this country one step further to the brink.
1 Black Malaysia. Democracy First. Elections Now.