IT WAS HIS FATE: Man using toilet buried by SUDDEN landslide

SUNGAI BULOH - A 43-year-old factory worker was buried alive in a landslide while he was answering nature's call at a furniture factory in Kampung Melayu Subang yesterday.

In the 10.40am incident, the victim, a Bangladeshi, was buried in two metre deep soil, after a slope behind the factory came crashing down during heavy rain.

The back portion of the factory was also badly damaged.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Mohd Sani Harul said 10 other workers escaped unhurt.

Sani said upon arriving at the scene, they were told of the worker trapped under the rubble and added that a search-and-rescue operation was mounted with excavators brought in to help in the search.

"We dug through the thick soil for about 31/2 hours before we could locate the victim, due to the depth of the soil."

Sani said the man was found at 2.35pm, in the toilet located at the back portion of the factory.

"Based on our initial investigations, we believe the landslide from a height of 50m was caused by rain and ongoing construction work of a retaining wall at the top of the slope."

Muhammad Isman, 26, a co-worker of the victim, said the victim had complained of stomach pain and left for the toilet prior to work.

"A few minutes later, we heard a loud noise and I immediately called out his name, while running toward the front but it was too late."

Isman said the victim had been working at the factory for five years and was due to return to Bangladesh next month, after his permit expired.

"It is a tragic incident for all of us,"

Sungai Buloh district police chief Superintendent Junaidi Bujang said the case had been classified as sudden death and the victim's body had been sent to Sungai Buloh Hospital for a post-mortem. -NST