'We are still in shock': Loved ones identify victims of Malaysia landslide near Genting Highlands - CNA

Mr Tan received news on Friday night that one of the bodies had a positive DNA match with Ms Hong.

"I'm here to identify my niece. We were looking for her everywhere yesterday, but last night they said there could be a possible DNA match with a dead body," Mr Tan told CNA outside Sungai Buloh Hospital's forensic department on Saturday morning. 

"We have all been living in uncertainty. Cannot sleep, cannot eat," he added.

"Now I have seen that it's really her … I feel numb looking at her body, it was hard to recognise. Her head was badly injured," he said, visibly shaken. 

Mr Tan was among several other family members and friends who were at Sungai Buloh Hospital to identify their loved ones. 

Some of them told CNA that they were still in shock from the news.

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2022-12-17 07:57:00Z
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Malaysia landslide: Death toll rises to 23 as search for the missing continues at campsite - CNA

Earlier, Norazam had told reporters that search and rescue operations were suspended overnight due to heavy rains and resumed around 8.30am on Saturday with the assistance of excavators and seven canines,

He said the search and rescue operation would focus on two of three search sectors.

“We are focusing on the two sites because we believe the victims are trapped (there) ... this is based on the fact that the last victim was found at a spot between these two locations.

“The (search and rescue) operation today will involve the use of heavy machinery or excavators to remove soil and large trees which had fallen with the flow of soil,” he said at the disaster site.

However, he said the use of the excavators would depend on the weather and soil conditions during the operation.

"We have to be careful because there is strong water flow from the top and in the soil, this complicates search operations because the ground is soft," he said.

Norazam told reporters the chances of those missing being able to survive the lack of oxygen and weight of the soil are slim.

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2022-12-17 06:50:08Z
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As it happened: Malaysia landslide kills at least 21 as search continues near Genting Highlands - CNA

Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Friday (Dec 16) announced financial aid and support measures for those affected by the fatal landslide near Genting Highlands.

The prime minister said RM10,000 (US$2,260) will be given to the families of those who died while RM1,000 in compassionate aid will be channelled to the survivors. 

The landslide, which struck shortly after 2am on Friday morning, killed at least 21 people while they slept in their tents at an unlicensed campsite at Father's Organic Farm in the town of Batang Kali in the state of Selangor. 

Five children are among the dead. The bodies of a mother and child, believed to be buried alive, were found in an embrace, said the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department. 

Three Singaporeans were among those rescued by the Malaysian authorities and the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur is in touch with them. 

Here are how the events unfolded: 

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2022-12-16 15:58:19Z
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Fatal landslide at campsite near Genting Highlands is 'unprecedented' in Malaysia, says geology expert - CNA

IMPROVING SAFETY

Dr Shahidah gave suggestions on what can be done to make the area safer, including investing more in putting up a strong and rigid structure that can sustain massive movement from the slope.

She added that the government needs to ramp up enforcement against illegal campsites, especially those at the toe of slopes as they may bear the brunt of a landslide.

“Although the campsite itself does not diminish nature directly, the location and also the implementation of the site itself are far from sustainable,” she said.

The campsite operator at Father's Organic Farm did not have a valid licence to host such activities, Malaysia’s Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming told reporters.

Dr Shahidah said: “We need to have strict rules to curb the trend where opportunists try to make money out of nature."

“Also we need to have a sound monitoring system that is able to give us the precursor warning or threshold once (there is) imminent danger,” she added.

While the risk of a landslide can be minimised, its occurrence is not entirely avoidable, she said. She noted that Malaysia is in a region that experiences wet and humid climate all year and that the country’s soil cover consists of thick residual soil.

“Soil is a loose part of rock - once it has been disintegrated, a small disturbance from water or even shaking could induce movement and this is what we experienced now,” she said.

Awareness is also important, Dr Shahidah said, noting that the Meteorological Department of Malaysia has warned residents and tourists of heavy rainfall.

“People need to take extra caution with this warning. Don’t simply go to an area that is prone to landslides,” she said.

People should find out the history of an area before deciding to go there, she added.

“When areas have evidence of ... landslides every year, it means that they are unstable in general,” she said.

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2022-12-16 11:29:00Z
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China recalls 6 diplomats over Manchester violence: UK - CNA

LONDON: China has removed six diplomats from the UK, including its consul-general in Manchester, after they were accused of assaulting a Hong Kong protester in the northern English city, Britain said on Wednesday (Dec 14).

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the six envoys had left the country by a Wednesday deadline imposed by London for them to waive their diplomatic immunity and be questioned by police over the October incident.

Greater Manchester Police launched a criminal probe after Hong Konger Bob Chan alleged Chinese diplomats subjected him to "barbaric" treatment - dragging him inside their compound to assault him - at an anti-Beijing protest.

"As part of that investigation, we requested that six Chinese officials waive diplomatic immunity so they can be questioned," Cleverly said Wednesday.

He added that the Chinese embassy in London had been informed of the deadline for "them to take action".

"In response to our requests, the Chinese government has now removed from the UK those officials, including the consul-general himself," Cleverly noted.

Britain's top diplomat said London's response demonstrated its "adherence to the rule of law" as well as "the seriousness with which we take these incidents".

In response, China's embassy to Britain issued a rebuke to Cleverly on Wednesday, saying he made "irresponsible comments by distorting facts".

"The British government failed to effectively prevent the intrusion and assault carried out by those rioters and to protect the premises and members of the Chinese Consulate General," the Chinese embassy said in a statement posted on its website.

"The UK side shows no respect for justice and the rule of law, and is being most irresponsible and disgraceful," it said, adding that they had "launched solemn representations" with Britain over the issue.

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2022-12-15 06:06:18Z
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China COVID-19 'explosion' began before restrictions eased: WHO - CNA

GENEVA: The flare-up in COVID-19 cases in China was well underway before the government began easing restrictions, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday (Dec 14).

Officials in China warned that cases are rising rapidly in Beijing after the government abruptly abandoned its zero-COVID-19 policy, scrapping mass testing and quarantines after nearly three years of attempting to stamp out the virus.

"The explosion of cases in China is not due to the lifting of COVID restrictions. The explosion of cases in China had started long before any easing of the zero-COVID policy," WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan told reporters.

"There's a narrative that, in some way, China lifted the restrictions and all of a sudden, the disease is out of control," he added at the UN health agency's headquarters in Geneva.

"The disease was spreading intensively because the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease.

"I believe the Chinese authorities have decided strategically that that, for them, is not the best option anymore," he said, referring to the control measures.

Ryan said the Omicron variant of the virus, which was first detected around a year ago, meant China-style restrictions were not as useful as they had been against previous strains circulating when vaccination coverage was low.

"The super-transmissibility of Omicron really took away the opportunity for using public health and social measures aimed at full containment of the virus," he told a press conference with the UN correspondents' association.

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2022-12-15 00:07:34Z
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Hong Kong police wrong to ban Tiananmen vigil, court rules - CNA

Despite her court victory, Chow remains in custody as she faces further prosecutions including for national security charges which carry up to a decade in jail.

Chow was arrested on the morning of Jun 4, 2021, when her articles appeared on social media and in a newspaper calling on residents to mourn Tiananmen victims.

At the time, police warned that the vigil was banned due to the pandemic and that thousands of officers would be on standby to halt any "unlawful assemblies".

But judge Barnes said on Wednesday that police failed to fulfil their duty under the law to take reasonable measures to facilitate public gatherings, such as imposing conditions on social distancing.

"Although the organisers expressed willingness to follow any reasonable demands by the police, the police only raised questions ... and did not propose measures or conditions that could obviously be considered," the judge said.

AFP has contacted the Department of Justice and Hong Kong police for comment.

In mainland China, censors have long scrubbed what happened at Tiananmen Square, both online and in the real world.

Commemoration of the Tiananmen incident in Hong Kong has largely been driven underground.

Last year, multiple statues marking the historical event were removed from university campuses while an activist-run museum was shut down.

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2022-12-14 12:01:00Z
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