Only ’thank you' uttered to rescuers as words fail for grieving dad

Focus

23 Dec 2022 11:23pm

Yang di-Pertua Negeri Melaka Tun Mohd Ali Rustam visited the two victims' families - BERNAMA

ALOR GAJAH - Tai Seng Fui, 63, could only utter ‘thank you’ incessantly when four members of his family were found by the search and rescue team (SAR) even though they were long deceased.

As father to one of the victims, Tan Chang Lin, 35, Tai said he is still coming to terms with accepting the reality of losing his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, all in the blink of an eye after they were swept away in a tragic landslide at the Father's Organic Farm campsite that occurred last Friday.

"A ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped, including the policemen tasked with the solemn journey of transporting the body from Kuala Lumpur for the cremation ceremony (here) this morning,” he said when met at Taman Machap Indah in Machap Baru here today.

Earlier, the bodies of Tan and his wife Yu Siew Pay, 34, and their two children seven-year-old boy Tai Jing Key and four-year-old girl Tai Jing Rou, were returned to Melaka from Sungai Buloh Hospital around 11.32 am today.

The bodies were then taken to the Huai En Memorial Park at Jelutong in Batu Berendam for cremation, while the ashes are expected to be brought back to their residence in Taman Machap Indah tomorrow for rites of last respects until Dec 29, before they are interred at the Eternal Berhad Memorial Park, Selandar, in Jasin

Meanwhile Yang di-Pertua Negeri Melaka Tun Mohd Ali Rustam visited the two victims' families accompanied by the State Unity, Information, Human Resources and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Ngwe Hee Sem, State Women’s Affairs, Family Development and Welfare Committee chairman Datuk Kalsom Noordin and Melaka PKR vice chairman Ginie Lim Siew Lin.

Mohd Ali spent an hour meeting and consoling the two families while also delivering a personal donation to them.

In Batang Kali, Hulu Selangor police chief Supt Suffian Abdullah confirmed that the bodies of four victims found yesterday had been claimed by kin.

He said the final leg of the search mission involved 97 personnel from the fire brigade, police, army and Malaysian Civil Defence Force (MCDF), with assistance from nine K9 tracker dogs.

Following the landslide at 2.42 am on Dec 16, there have been 61 survivors, 30 deceased while another is still missing out of a total of 92 people.

Suffian said as many as 11 heavy machines were also being used in the search for the last victim which continued at 8 am today.

- BERNAMA