GEORGE TOWN: The remains of all four Myanmar construction workers, buried under tonnes of earth following a landslide at a holiday resort here last night, have been retrieved.
Following the recovery of the last body at 3.35am today, the search and rescue (SAR) operation that was activated soon after the 9.25pm incident was called off.
Northeast district police chief Assistant Commissioner Che Zaimani Che Awang said all four bodies were accounted for after more than six hours being trapped under the debris, filled with steel beams.
He said the first body was retrieved at 1.59am, followed by the second and third bodies at 2.33am and 3.10am respectively.
All the remains were taken to the Forensic Department of the Penang Hospital for a post-mortem.
He added that for now, the identities of all the victims could not be ascertained as no documents were found on them, and that police would work closely with the Myanmar Embassy on the victims’ identities.
“The SAR operation was called off after we have managed to find all the victims. Unfortunately, we are not able to identify them as they were no documents found on any of them.
“We will refer to the embassy for assistance with the fingerprints we obtained from each of the victims,” he said at the scene.
Elaborating, Che Zaimani said the victims’ conditions vary as three of the victims were found standing while holding steel beams, while the other was found lying down next to them.
He said the operation took longer than expected as the victims’ bodies were impaled by the steel beams.
“The SAR took longer as there were many steel beams at the site. They had affixed the steel beams for the construction of a retaining wall,” he added.
It was earlier reported that the four construction workers were feared buried alive in a landslide at 9.25pm yesterday while carrying out works to construct a retaining wall at the holiday resort.
They had been engaged by the resort owner to build the retaining wall for about a week now after the latter sensed earth movements from a cliff nearby.
Among the agencies involved in the SAR were the Penang and Kedah Fire and Rescue Department, the police, the Civil Defence Department and the Special Tactical Operation and Rescue Team (STORM).