200 feared dead as rescue resumes after storm
200 feared dead as rescue resumes after storm
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (AFP): Up to 200 people, mostly Indonesians, were feared yesterday to be still entombed in the slimy debris left by a storm that ripped through Malaysia's Sabah state, claiming 127 lives, officials said.
As rescuers resumed their third day searching for survivors, the Sabah state government called for a full report on the possible causes of the mounting death toll amid allegations that illegal logging had aggravated the losses.
"Search operations are hampered by the slime and muddy debris and rescuers have resorted to using wooden poles to gingerly dig into the heap," said a spokesman at the state police operations room monitoring the rescue.
Rescue operations are concentrated in the remote district of Keningau, which bore the brunt of Thursday's tropical storm, Greg.
Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee has appealed to the local media to provide wider coverage of weather forecast reports that, he said, have long been taken for granted.
"The one aspect of the disaster that we should look into is the early warning system with regard to weather forecast announcements which many people usually take for granted," Yong said over the national radio network monitored here.
"The media in concert with the meteorological department ought to give wide coverage on adverse weather conditions by publishing early warnings by the department," Yong pleaded.
Relatives, meanwhile, waited anxiously as hopes of finding their love ones ebbed with the tide.
The weather has since cleared and rivers have receded, police said.
"They only want to recover the bodies and give them a decent burial," said one of the rescuers.
Indonesians
The victims were mostly Indonesian migrant workers, who either drowned, were struck by objects, crushed or buried alive in the torrent of mud and water when the storm struck 524 houses in the state's interior.
"We are still unclear how many are still missing, but according to the Indonesian consulate here, about 200 Indonesians are still unaccounted for," a police spokesman said.
A mass burial was held late yesterday for 82 Indonesians, whose bodies were identified among the 127 recovered so far.
In Kuala Lumpur, the Japanese government has announced a donation of more than 500,000 ringgit (US$200,000) worth of aid to the Malaysian government for the victims.
Japanese Information Service Director Motokatsu Watanabe said in a statement 2,250 blankets and 90 tents, costing about 435,000 ringgit would soon be flown to the victims.
"We are making arrangements to fly in the blankets and tents from Singapore," he said.
Another $100,000 would be spent on food and other essentials for the flood victims.
The Malaysian National Natural Disaster Relief committee has provided a grant of 100,000 ringgit to the Sabah government for emergency relief.
Sabah's Communication and Works Ministry has formed a task force to assess damage to government property.
Malaysia's meteorological department has come under criticism for its failure to detect the intensity of the storm.
Information Minister Mohamed Rahmat on Friday blamed weathermen for failing to predict the intensity of the storm that he said could have helped to minimize the loss of lives and property in the disaster.