Mudslide at Cameron Highlands

Narrow escape for trader b
By Chan Li Leen
Wednesday April 12, 2006

CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Trader S. Kumar can only thank his lucky stars that he escaped unhurt when a mudslide occurred while he was travelling along the Kampung Raja-Pos Slim road to Simpang Pulai near Ipoh.

The 21-year-old managed to brake just in time to avoid being swept into a ravine by the mudslide, which occurred at the 13th kilometre of the Kampung Raja-Pos Slim road at 4.30pm yesterday.

His car was, however, half-buried as the debris came gushing down onto the highway, covering almost 800m of the stretch.

Fortunately for him, the railing that stopped his car from crashing into the ravine did not give way under the weight of the debris of mud, tree trunks and rocks.

MUDDY TASK: Workers clearing the debris at the 13th kilometre of the Kampung Raja-Pos Slim road near Cameron Highlands after a mudslide occurred at the stretch.

The trader, who was the only motorist on that stretch of the road at the time of the incident, spoke to the media via walkie-talkie as he was at the other end of the mudslide.

According to EEC Sdn Bhd resident engineer Yong Loy, who was one of the first at the scene, Kumar could only sit and wait until rescuers got him out of his damaged car some 90 minutes later.

Yong said other motorists had reported the incident to him at his office in Gunung Pass, about 10km away.

EEC is the consultant engineer of MTD Construction Sdn Bhd, which has been awarded the contract to construct the Kampung Raja-Pos Slim road from here to Ipoh.

“We immediately deployed our workers and machinery to the scene to start clearing the debris and fallen trees,” he said.

Yong said the mudslide was not due to an existing cut slope.

“We believe it occurred at a catchment area at the top of the hill slope,” he said.

Perak Public Works Department director Datuk Wong Wai Ching said it was the first time a mudslide of such a magnitude had occurred along the highway.

“It is the worst as the affected stretch has cut off traffic flow completely,” he said.


Source: The Star