Divers hampered by wall of debris in sinkhole channel

 

FMT:

Divers hampered by wall

of debris in sinkhole

channel

FMT Reporters

-30 Aug 2024, 09:36 AM

Search team also says rocks and sand, and strong currents make it difficult to reach the blockage.

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A crane is helping to extract debris and drain water from the sewer channel. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Two fire and rescue department divers descended into the sewer channel at the sinkhole area on Jalan Masjid India early this morning but resurfaced about half an hour later because of a wall of debris blocking them.

Bernama said the divers descended into the channel at 4am in their continuing search for the Indian national who fell into the 8m-deep sinkhole last Friday.

It was reported last night that the blockage was discovered about 44m from the sinkhole after two water drum release tests were conducted at both the sinkhole site and Wisma Yakin.

Fire and rescue department director-general Nor Hisham Mohammad was quoted as saying the blockage was composed of cooking oil bottles, tyres, solidified fat and clumps of hair, but the search team had begun to clear the obstruction by removing the debris bit by bit.

Bernama said this morning’s dive was conducted after the team sealed off part of the channel and redirected the inflow to reduce the water level from 1.5m to 0.8m.

A crane was seen arriving at the site at 11.20pm yesterday to extract debris from the sinkhole and deploy high-powered pumps to drain water from the sewer channel.

Members of the search team also said the divers faced other challenges, including rocks and sand in the channel, while strong currents made it difficult to reach the blockage.

The search was temporarily halted at 5am but resumed this morning.