Death toll rises in deadly landslide at unlicensed camp in Malaysia

The dead amount to at least 25 from the landslide that overwhelmed a camp operating without a permit on December 16 at Malaysia. Among them are eight children, according to the authorities’ latest report, after the body of a little girl was found yesterday Tuesday (12/20) by the rescue crews.

A police officer in the area clarified today, during a press conference, that the child was between six and ten years old and that he was found at a depth of five meters.

The rescue crews continue, as the Athens News Agency reports, the searches in the muddy ground of the farm where the camp was operating to find the last eight missing persons.

The landslide occurred near the town of Batag Kali, on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Officials said more than 90 people, most of them sleeping, were at the site when huge volumes of mud, rocks and uprooted trees fell on the camp, not far from a mountain resort where a casino operates.

About 680 people, led by firefighters and police officers, are still searching. 61 people were found safe.

According to authorities, the camp was operating without a permit and the people operating the site will be severely punished if found to be responsible for the accident.

Landslides are common in Malaysia, especially during the rainy season, around the end of each year. But there had been no recent heavy rainfall in the area where the disaster unfolded.

In March, four people died when a landslide crushed four houses in a suburb of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

A year ago, about 21,000 people were displaced by floods in seven Malaysian states.

In 1993, a giant mudslide following torrential rains caused the collapse of a 12-story apartment building near the capital, killing 48 people. It was one of the worst such disasters in Malaysian history.