Building Collapse: One More Body Found

PETALING JAYA, May 29 (Bernama) -- One more body was found in the basement of the former Jaya Supermarket building in Section 14 here which collapsed yesterday.

This brings the number of casualties to three. Two bodies were found yesterday and four other victims were believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Petaling Jaya OCPD ACP Arjunaidi Mohamed said the body of the third victim, which was found at 3.30am today, had yet to be taken out because the search and rescue team had to tread cautiously in its search for the other victims.

"We're trying to make a hole in the rubble to go down. We managed to reach the third body by crawling through but have yet to bring it out," he told reporters.

He said the team had problem making a hole because there were still tremors which could cause the escalator above to collapse.

There could be several victims trapped in the area based on the findings of the K9 unit (dog unit) and the firemen yesterday, he said, adding that four victims had yet to be traced.

Arjunaidi said 515 rescue team personnel had been working round the clock since yesterday afternoon.

The incident occurred at about 5pm yesterday while several workers were carrying out demolition work on the building.

The body of the first victim, identified as Maskor, 28, was brought out at about 6.50pm and the second, which had yet to be identified, at 10.20pm.